A Little Ghost Girl
by Vampirelover12100
Summary: Naruto didn't remember when she began seeing them. The see-through people. Only that as she grew up there was always a warm hand. Nothing made her happier when she was able to see the ghosts of the deceased, despite the tragedy behind each one she saw. Fem!Naruto Semi-AU
1. Chapter 1: A Blessing

AN: A new story. I know I should probably try and focus on my main one but I couldn't help myself. I love this type of AU about seeing ghosts but I haven't been able to read one that's actually been able to pull it off. Or at least one that semi-regularly updates. So I wrote my own. I hope you like it. I know I will.

Disclaimer: I do not own Naruto and all rights of character and plot go to Kishimoto

* * *

**The Orphanage – 1 year and a half after the Kyuubi Attack**

The night was quiet, calm and all-around peaceful despite the destruction that had occurred only a year and a half ago. The destruction had left many people in Konohagakure defenseless, homeless and vulnerable, with only one thing – person to blame for their misfortune. Still many parts of Konoha needed adamant repairing for, although after a year and a half, the more collateral damage had been taken care of. The citizens of the Hidden Village, both civilian and shinobi grieved for the loved ones that they lost for a far longer time than most – it was a tragedy that would be reminded of annually for years, and many held grudges towards the cause. Their desperate plea for it to be nothing but a nightmare fell on deaf ears, as the cause of their heartache – the Kyuubi – had been, but locked away in an infant child.

A girl; by the infamous name Uzumaki Naruto.

* * *

The one and a half year old girl; forgotten in a corner of the ever-large orphanage, had curled in her makeshift crib that was far from luxurious, into a tight ball. Her eyes clammed shut as she attempted to keep her bodily warmth from escaping her, the thin single blanket having fallen from atop her tiny body and it was only a matter of a noise to wake her. There was very little humanity in the treatment of the pitifully young orphan girl – she had once been in the care of Third Hokage that was until she was able to more solid foods, since the work of a Hokage was too demanding to take care of a child. Very little care was placed upon the child, for, if not her, but the thing inside her, there would be less children housed in the orphanage and fewer matrons would be staffed.

However, the night was harsh for such a child – as was the day, but it was only during the night in which sparkling tears of the innocent were shed by the blonde child. She ran her hand across the crib, latching onto the blanket, pulling it into herself as much strength that was allowed.

A soft feminine voice echoed throughout the room rather painfully, "Naruto, my little girl."

A ghostly hand trilling through the quivering child's hand that was once her own. The late mother cringed at the sight of her daughter to be in such a state; despite being dead, she could not help the tears in her eyes that refused to leave since the day she died. She wished nothing more than to comfort her, protect her and tell her she loved her and that her and her husband did not abandon her. There was nothing that she could do. How tragic could a child's fate be?

"Kushina…" Another voice interrupted.

The ghostly mother turned to she her husband; still in the uniform he died, protecting the village, in. His body was just as see-through as hers. Kushina rubbed her eyes out of desperation before tucking a thin strand of the red hair that she hated all her life behind her ear. She needed comfort, solace only found in the man she loved, even in death.

"Minato, I wish there was something we could do for her. She doesn't even know that we love her." Kushina whimpered. Her hand clamped tightly onto his shirt, begging of his arms around her. When he did so, she could only relax her shoulders.

"I know. I'm sorry."

It was all he could offer. He loved his little girl just as much as his wife did. And he prayed alongside her that there was something they could do to just get a couple of words to pass on, an 'I love you' or 'you're so brave'.

Anything.

Kushina and Minato returned to the crib, both ran they hands over the quivering girl; but it was only at the moment their hands phased through her, did they notice her shivering to stop. Naruto's eyes slowly opened tiredly, electric blue eyes shifted in the dark, rather lazily. Having been aroused from her attempt at sleep, Naruto rubbed her eyes rather hastily.

After lying on her stomach for so long, Naruto flipped herself up onto her back – still rubbing her eyes. She didn't understand what was going on, she thought she had heard a noise – probably a matron. Naruto turned her head over to where she assumed the matron would be, only to find two people that were far closer to her crib that she was prepared for. Not recognising the people, instinct told her to start cry – and that she did.

"What do we?!" Kushina reacted – not registering the miracle they wished had since been answered.

Minato realised straight away and just stared in shock at the sight of his beautiful baby girl. She had seen them, and the suddenness of their arrival had startled her! He moved forward instinctively, his body fazing through the crib as he knelt down so that he was face to face with Naruto.

"N-Naruto," He was so hesitant. He was so desperately to believe what he saw. The Yondaime Hokage once again sent his prays as he reached out to Naruto. "Naruto. Look at me. Please."

Naruto hesitantly removed her hands to look at the blond man that was now in front of her. Their hands were both warm and cold at the same time, she didn't know how to explain it but she didn't know whether she wanted to try and hug the man, out of fear she thought she would feel the cold again but if it meant she could reach the warmth than she was willing to go to the funny looking man.

She rubbed away the stray tears as she sniffed and returned to wearily watching the man before taking a quick glance at the woman behind him.

"…?" Naruto managed.

"My name's Minato. I'm your dad." Minato smiled softly as he continued to hope that his observations were true and that there wasn't one of the matrons behind him.

"T-T'-ch'n." Naruto stammered.

Kushina gapped at the sound of Naruto attempting to call Minato her father. Her prayers had been answered, they could talk to Naruto, be a part of her childhood, teach her what they learned; but more importantly, they could tell her just how much they loved her for as long as the small spell would last.

"N-Naruto." Kushina whimpered. Wishing to get a closer look at her child. Minato didn't have to be told to move out of the way. Kushina knelt down in front of the tiny blonde child, Her red hair immediately caught Naruto's eyes and she could only stare curiously.

She turned to the man for some sort of guidance, she felt that she could trust him. He could only offer a sorrowful smile and small nod of the head.

"Naruto-chan," She said softly.

Naruto's attention perked and her eyes trained back to the redheaded woman. She stared and could only think about how quiet she was, the woman didn't look like a quiet person, at all.

"Naruto, my name's Kushina. I'm your mother." Kushina felt her voice break. She knew she needed to be strong for Naruto, it was what she deserved, and she needed to know that there was someone that could care for her.

"K-Ka-ch'n."

"Oh, Naruto, I couldn't be happier that you can see us!" Kushina wept. She reached out instinctively to hug her, she passed straight through her and hit the ground without a sound to indicate the landing. Naruto blinked a couple of times, wondering where the woman disappeared to, absently looking around before staring at the slightly shell-shocked man her could only stare at the figure directly underneath the crib.

"K-Kushina-chan?" Minato stammered. His hands twitched, he wanted to help his wife up but knew better. He knew that his wife liked her independence where it was due; helping her up while she was in such a vulnerable state would only further remind her that she was dead. That she could never hold her daughter physically.

Kushina pushed herself up, only after regaining her bearing and slowly rejoined her husband's side. Minato could only offer an arm, placed lightly on her shoulder loosely; they were both trying to maintain their composure in the face of a miracle. The two of them smiled lovingly at their daughter. They watched in stilled silence as they watched her crawl to the edge of the crib in an attempt to get closer to them. Tears formed in the corner of their eyes, as her crawling was only further proof of her attachment to them.

"N-No go." Naruto sniffed. She had never seen such a loving gaze before, she didn't want it to go away.

Kushina drifted over, kneeling down in front of the small crib, allowing her hand to pass through the wooden cage, she was able to run her finger through her daughter's soft golden hair. Both of their eyes filled with tears as pressed their foreheads together in best hope of physical contact. Their moment, albeit probably short, didn't stop the family from acknowledging just how well things were to be able to contact one another without fear. For so long, Minato and Kushina feared that they would only be able to re-connect with their little girl when she would be on her deathbed. Something they were more than willing to wait a long time for – but now, they just hoped with this small hope, they were able to be something of a family.

Whatever God had blessed them with the opportunity to love their daughter had their absolute gratitude. They wanted to spend every moment looking after her like they wished they could despite the possibly consequences that could come from them.


	2. Chapter 2: A Warm Day Out

**Konoha Orphanage – 3 and half years after the Kyuubi Attack**

* * *

Konohagakure, sometimes, felt more like a suburban town, rather than a shinobi village. Maybe it was because of their friendly and elderly leader, or the comfortable amount of space for her citizens, or because everyone assisted one another when in times of troubles. Konoha worked together to assist one another in the hopes of making the future a little better for the next generation. However, for the new generation was a stunt. With the Kyuubi attack many children were either killed or orphaned. This left a bitter taste in a lot of people's throats.

So, while the Kyuubi was sealed away into a mere child – that child was left an parentless, stuck watching the other children outside in the warmer weather, struck with envy. How poor a life it was, for an orphan, more especially one cannot share her fears and loss with the other children.

Uzumaki Naruto watched the other happy children, while she sat on the windowsill with little to occupy her mind, beside her envy. She wondered where her own parents were.

Be it, as it may, Naruto's parents – despite being dead and far from returning, she was more than capable of seeing them and other spirits of the dead. At the moment, Uzumaki Kushina and Namikaze Minato were off somewhere Naruto knew not where, but was patient when she needed to, although it didn't mean that she didn't fidget out of anticipation. So, while she waited, Naruto continued her watching from the window and wondered whether or not she would ever be able to experience such a good day for herself with friends of her own.

* * *

Seated atop the Yondaime Hokage's head were two very conflicted spirits. Although their concerns were not addressed at the time, they were bound to break sooner rather than later – if for nothing but their little girl's sake.

"I feel rather cocky sitting on top of your head –ttebane!" Kushina laughed, breaking the silence around them.

Minato could find to counter his wife's statement but with his own laugh. Finally the tension had left, and it was due to Kushina's smile. Even during his short reign as Hokage, Minato knew that Kushina was the only reason he managed to not fall into himself with stress and paperwork – his own piece of sunshine. And it had only grown bigger with Naruto's birth.

Once the two of them had slowly lost their amusement, the air was lighter, be it more solemn.

"This is about Naruto, isn't it?" Kushina began.

"Yes. I want to say that we can always be with her like the parents that we wanted to be, but it doesn't change the fact that we're dead." Minato elaborated on the harsh truth. "She has shown that she can see other spirits in the past couple of years, and with the way the village treats her, it would only be a matter of time before she fully relies on the company of the dead."

"You doubt our little Naruto won't be able to find living friends, Dattebane!"

Minato refused to look at his wife, rather continued to look out over the village that he protected with his life.

"No, but it will be difficult while she grows up. She'll have great teachers from all over Konoha with the deceased. I know Yamanaka-baa-sama would love to teach Naruto kunoichi lessons, but… what I'm trying to say is that Naruto should know that she can't always rely on us."

Kushina was silent in her own confusion.

"What do you mean? Naruto already knows that she can't talk to us aloud in the company of others."

Minato rubbed his face with both hands. Not out of frustration for his wife, but rather his own regrets for his daughter.

"As Hokage I know the inside-outs of how this village operates. And some of their methods aren't always the right way. – What I was trying to say is, Naruto – already being a Jinchūriki and seeing spirits – will only further give the council a reason to lock her away and use her as a weapon rather than a person."

Kushina could only hug her husband. It was going to be hard for them; they had to watch their daughter and not be a part of her life but what was worse was that she might not even be treated like a human being. Kushina knew it was hard, but she recognised that Minato would constantly have conflicted feelings about what was best for his daughter. He would always have some form of crushing guilt somewhere and today just happened to be one of those bad days.

"We'll just explain it to her the best we can, Minato, and as she gets older she'll come to terms with it. She'll hate you for a little while but she's not the type to hold grudges for long."

"Compared to her mother." Minato muttered cheekily.

The kunoichi grabbed the Hokage's cheek and pulled with little to no mercy. It was nice having him back to his cheerful self.

* * *

When the parents returned to the orphanage, coming in through the roof, they immediately spotted Naruto. Her bright blonde hair was tied up into two small pigtails, she wore a overly large white shirt that the matron's claimed that she would grow into, bother her parents and Naruto knew that it was because they didn't want to spend money on her to buy her clothes, and one pair of loos grey shorts.

"Naruto." Kushina called out softly.

At the sound of her name being called by one of the two voices that were the most loving, a smile bloomed on the young girl's face as if she had just been crowned a princess.

"Kaa-chan." Naruto whispered happily.

"How about we go to your room and I'll read you a story. How does that sound?"

Naruto beamed at the sound of human interaction, but more importantly with her parents, she gave a quick, short nod.

"C-Can I pick the story?" She asked quietly.

"Of course you can – ttebane!" Kushina laughed, sticking her thumb out in approval.

Naruto's mood from that point on could do nothing but brighten the day around her as she ran over to the small bookshelf designed for children and filled with donated picture books. She wasn't permitted to read any of the books, well, it wasn't like she was capable of reading most of them, but when she tried by herself another kid would take it from her or a matron would tell her to clean something up immediately or she wouldn't be getting dinner.

So, quickly checking through the window to see all the matrons keeping an eye on the other children, Naruto grinned and rushed over and easily found the one book that she had her eye on for a little while. The books contained legends that were primarily pulled together from some of the villages and establishments around Fire Country. Naruto thought it was interesting; it reminded her of the great success of the Yondaime Hokage and how he defeated the Kyuubi.

The village went on and on about how much they admired the Yondaime's sacrifice and, being as young as she was, Naruto believed it as well. And she could understand. For someone human like them to defeat a huge demon that destroyed half the village, and all by himself, was a huge feat. Naruto couldn't help but admire him.

Naruto often spouted her highlights to her parents when they were alone, mainly in the confines of her tiny room. Which she was currently headed to.

Closing the door behind her, and easily placing a chair under the doorknob to prevent curious matrons, Naruto then placed herself on the tatami matted floor, backside up.

"Kaa-chan, Kaa-chan, read me the story." Naruto pleaded.

Feeling particularly cheeky Kushina, stuck her tongue out at her daughter in the same childish manner, plopping herself down to Naruto's left.

"I think you're forgetting something else, Naruto."

"Eh? What's that?"

Minato smiled at his wife, she often played with Naruto as if she was a child herself. Without anyone else to participate in more fun activities, Minato left it to Kushina to be the 'fun-parent' as others would often say. He placed himself on the other side of his daughter and ruffled her hair.

"Naruto, Kaa-chan's talking about 'please'."

"Ah! _Please_ read me a story."

Kushina giggled and instructed Naruto to open the book and follow along. Pulling the book closer to them, Naruto opened the colourful storybook and large kanji appeared on the first page with smaller hiragana just above the kanji.

"What does that mean?" Naruto asked curiously.

Kushina wondered how Naruto would have survived without them, to have no one to read to her or educate her on kanji and important roles within the village. Pushing her feelings aside, she focused on the fact that her talented little Naruto was able to see spirits. Silently Kushina wondered if she would be capable of unlocking it further – but not like the Edo Tensei, something different.

"It's the title. Momotarō – Peach Boy."

"Who would name their kid that?"

_That's ironic coming from you, Naruto_. Both parents thought.

Minato laughed and pushed on before his two favourite girls got into a verbal argument.

It was moments like those, where nothing else existed outside of Naruto's small room, that there was nothing that could possibly hurt her within the confines of a tiny room and the mere presence of her parents' spirits. That there wasn't a dangerous demon sealed inside a little girl, the village didn't hate her for merely existing, but most importantly – her family wasn't dead to the world.

Naruto smiled and laughed without care as her mother criticized the story while she told it and her father helped her read someone the hiragana. All around – it was a good day.

* * *

It wasn't until mid-afternoon a knock at her door and a violent thrash at her doorknob had snapped her out of her bubble of happiness. Her parents went deadly quiet and Naruto promptly did the same. Kushina floated up and pocked her head through the door.

"Naruto, Hokage-sama is here to see you." Kushina smiled.

Naruto pulled herself up off the floor and ran over to the door, yanking the chair free from the door. The door was then pushed open with no resistance from the aggressive push from the door as it hit Naruto straight in the face, knocking her onto the ground.

Minato and Kushina were immediately at her side, asking whether or not she was okay. The matron gave no indication that she was sorry for what she did and quickly left before the Hokage could badger her about her behaviour.

Sarutobi Hiruzen, Third Hokage of Konohagakure, was exhausted just witnessing the brutal behavious the matron just displayed toward such a young child. He felt old being in the presence of such people, but what made him feel worse was how little he could do in such a situation. Despite being Third Hokage, there was very little he could do for the village's Jinchūriki – if he were to place the matron because of her behavious to one child; placing the Jinchūriki in favour, for a Hokage could spell disaster – more especially in the civilian district. Hiruzen could only wish that Kakashi would pull out of Anbu to take up his role as guardian and look after the girl but there was still tension between Konoha, Iwa and Kumo –the latter especially since the Hyuuga incident a year ago.

Hiruzen sighed, he felt so old and at the age of 60, he felt it was more appropriate to be a hundred. If only Minato was still around.

"Hello, Naruto-chan, how are you?"

"Ah! Jiji-chan. I'm fine"

"Jiji is fine by itself."

"Eh? ...Okay." Naruto allowed her parents to explain to her for that short moment that calling him her grandfather meant that she didn't need horrifics – frankly, Minato suspected Kushina would try to push Naruto to call the Hokage by some other outrageous nickname simply because he was the Hokage and couldn't say no to their little girl. –Kushina was going to prank the Hokage from beyond the dead, and Minato didn't know whether to be impressed or enforce a stricter management on Naruto.

"What are you doing here?" Naruto asked.

"I came to see you – and hopefully take you out to lunch."

As if a sign from above, Naruto's stomach growled furiously and she could only laugh out of embarrassment. Sometimes she had to hide her hunger pains until dinner, with how little they served her, Naruto had to maintain her hunger for as long as possible or find some fruit from a tree just outside of the village.

There was often a miss conception about Hidden Villages when it came to its citizens, mainly when it came to the walls that surround it. Passports were need by foreigners or long-term leaving citizens. Those around who were on gate duty were Chūnin and were capable of remembering the few citizens that hang around the forests, mainly the children during the peacetime. During wartime was different, too many were scared to leave their home grounds and rarely left out of fear of getting caught in the cross fire. This often left the many of the countries crippled and escort missions were placed raised higher in price and rank. It was tough sometimes living in a Hidden Village.

But, Naruto had no trouble leaving the village despite being a Jinchūriki. The Hokage would have Anbu tail her, should she leave the village, however – some were a little lax in focusing on their duties without a primary threat. Guarding the Jinchūriki was primarily seen as a little R&amp;R for those in Anbu.

Hiruzen's extended offer for lunch was not turned down, so, Naruto quickly packed up her book, hid it under her bed and quickly joined the elderly man.

"Naruto." Kushina called out.

Naruto turned around when she was called and found her mother standing next to the window, her father already gone doing his own thing around the village as he often told her.

"Naruto, I'm going to be looking in on some of my friends and we probably won't be back until late."

Naruto pulled her face as if she heard something scandalous. Kushina, quick to respond, got angry, "I do have friends, you brat!"

Naruto snickered under her breath and pulled the Hokage along before her mother somehow managed to pull herself away out of the underworld and punch her head in.

Hiruzen was thoroughly confused with display the little in his company had displayed. To him, Naruto had suddenly turned around to look out before started snickering; he could only guess that she was glad that she was able to find something, or rather, someone to take her away from orphanage – even for the short amount of time.

* * *

The trip around the village was something to be anticipated. Love and admiration shone bright in the eyes of the citizens and shinobi that spotted their Hokage. However, the moment their attention was diverted to the small four-year-old child, the atmosphere shifted drastically. Whispering arose, assuming the worst of things. The harshest of criticisms were pushed onto the child, well within her hearing. They were not permitted to speak about the actual cause of their hatred, however, there was nothing stopping them from voicing their utter disgust for such a child.

The reincarnation of the Kyuubi was one to be feared and hated. More especially if it meant that they were able to drive the monster away from their immediate proximity.

"If it left the village altogether then no one's going to stop it."

"The Sandaime was truly a kind man to let such a creature stay in their village."

"Do you think that the next person it looks at will be killed like all the others?"

They were only some of the things that were continually said about the child, the girl, the citizen of Konohagakure, and there was nothing that was going to stop it. The Sandaime, although all-powerful in the village, nothing could stop the words of its people – and those words were out to get Uzumaki Naruto for everything that wasn't her.

Naruto instinctively clung to the Hokage coats. She didn't know why they said those things, she had asked her mother but she had only given her the most pitiful look she had ever seen on her mother's beautiful face. Out of fear that she would be rejected, Naruto quickly changed her mind and told her it didn't matter. But that had only made it worse. Kushina had tried to hug the life out of her daughter for what she had to go through.

"Naruto," The Hokage called. "How does Yakiniku Q sound?"

His voice was gentle, as if a tamer trying to coax a scared kitten out of hiding. Slowly but surely allowing his hand to finds her; Hiruzen took his segregate granddaughter to the ninja frequented barbeque place. ,

"Are you sure, Jii-chan?" Her voice was so small it was almost a whisper. It was sad to think about just how much life had to be sucked out from someone so small, simply because of something that they couldn't control.

"Positive. You are hungry remember. Smile, I've got something that I want to tell you."

Curiosity got the better of Naruto and regained herself. Standing next to the Hokage, her small hand still clasped tightly in his – a smile bloomed on her face. Yakiniku Q's staff was a little hesitant about having the resident Jinchūriki in their establishment but one look at the elderly Hokage told them that they were in safe hands. (Probably)

They gave the pair the furthest table inside and away from nervous eyes and food was immediately delivered to the leader once he had placed his order.

After Naruto began stuffing her face with thin slices of beef, she quickly addressed the issue that was on the elderly man's mind. "What'd you want to talk about – ttebayo?"

"Always straight to the point, huh, Naruto?" Hiruzen laughed, taking a bite from a piece of pork. "I actually wanted your opinion on whether or not you want to move out of the orphanage. I organized an cheap apartment on the far side of the village and you will have your own allowance for food and rent."

"My own place, dattebayo?"

Naruto pondered the thought. If she were to have her own place then the other kids wouldn't bother her, the matrons would be there to bother her, her and her parents would be able to freely converse without worrying that there would be someone outside her door and generally everything would be better – especially for someone like her. "I'd love to, dattebayo!"

"It does mean that you will have to feed yourself and cook and clean by yourself. Are you willing to take that responsibility?"

"If it means that I get out of the stupid orphanage then, hell yes!"

Excitement and anticipation appeared as if Naruto was a happiness-bomb about to go off. She was looking forward to telling her parents about how they were moving out. She always felt like her parents also didn't like the orphanage – probably for what it stood for, which only made them feel worse.

Naruto would felt like she would be able to eat cup ramen everyday, she was too lazy to cook for herself sometimes. But also having been caught "stealing" food from the orphanage meant that it was okay for the strap, which traumatized at an early age.

Sarutobi Hiruzen informed her on what her life would then entail should she agree.

"Naruto, I'll allow you to live on your own when you turn 4. I'll have some shinobi help you with anything that you might need when you move in. I will cover all cost that you ask for and you'll get a weekly allowance after that. – Are you following?"

"I think so. Turn 4 – new house, money every week."

"Very good. With that, I want to enroll you into the ninja Academy."

…

"Really, dattebayo! I get to be a ninja and do cool tricks and beat up bad guys."

…

"Along those lines..."

Naruto could agree with that; there was no point in getting more confused about something that she was meant to understand the first time around.

"Are you finished with your meal?" Hiruzen asked calmly.

"Un. You are paying, right, Jiji? 'Cause I don't have any money with me."

"Naturally, Naruto-chan. I wouldn't be a very good host myself if I were to have my guest pay for the food I offered."

Naruto breathed a sigh of relief and jumped up from her floor cushion, about to make her way out. Remembering her manners that were forced upon her by her pushy mother, Naruto gave a deep but meaningful bow to the Hokage.

"Thank you for the food, dattebayo."

"Such a polite girl, Naruto." Hiruzen smiled. He felt bad for her. "Run along, I can handle myself from here."

Naruto laughed.

"Don't break a hip, old man, especially on your way back."

Naruto waved her goodbyes and ran out of Yakiniku Q. Personally, she didn't want to return to the orphanage just yet. Her mother told her that she was going out to see her friends that day, so there was no point in finding her and dad. It only further brought up the point on what she was going to do with her free time. She definitely wasn't going to see the other kids. Their parents were probably hanging around at this time of day.

Naruto ignored the glares and whispers, instead focusing her thoughts on her new apartment. She wondered if there was going to be enough room for parents, if they would like it. A little part of her wondered whether there was something else that she could do with her ability to see spirits, but tossed that thought aside dismissively.

Wondering around the village was boring when there was no one to hang around with. But the occasional ghost that had attached itself to someone out of regret or remorse – when they recognised that she could see them, they were more than eager to talk to her. Tell her about their day, what their relatives were doing, what grandchild had just been conceived – anything they could think of that happened after the day they died, they would tell Uzumaki Naruto without worry about what she could do with that information.

More especially with Yamanaka Baa-chan. She had told her how her stupid son wasn't capable of taking care of his spoilt brat of a girl, and if she were still alive then her grandchild would easily become a fine clan head when she grew up. Yamanaka Baa-chan found something in Naruto – probably a maternal instinct, Naruto thought, that made her seek her out to impose on the importance of Kunoichi lessons at an early age.

Naruto thought it would have been better to play with the Lady Daimyo's cat again, than having to listen to Yamanaka Baa-chan's lessons. But some of them were interesting, like the meaning behind flowers.

And Naruto thus she found herself sitting in an isolated park listening to multiple ghosts gather to tell her their woes and finds. Even those who were killed during the Kyuubi attack had come to pass their grievances. They – surprisingly – apologised about the behavious of their relatives and said that they were grieving and that her birthday, being on the day the Kyuubi attacked meant they made the connection (be it a half-truth, but even they didn't want to tell Naruto the truth about being a Jinchūriki) and attacked her out of spite and vengeance.

"I don't completely understand, but if you say that they didn't mean it then it can't be helped. I'll live." Naruto stated simply. She was still young and the ghosts understood that much; maybe another time when she was older they could drop hints and support her at the very least.

Either way, news quickly got out in the spirit community that Uzumaki Naruto, Jinchūriki to the Nine-tailed fox, had the ability to see and communicate with spirits of the dead. Even if they were dead, Naruto still called them her friends – mainly with the children that died around the same time the Kyuubi attacked.

Children that were killed weren't able to progress mentally or change their appearance in their ghostly form. This only made it all the more relatable for Naruto in her young age and wasn't going to think too far in the future as long as she had someone to hang out with.

"But…" Naruto started. "I still want to make friends with the living." She muttered.

The small group that had gathered after a couple of hours, primarily children and Yamanaka Baa-chan supervising, had grown silent.

"We understand, Naruto-chan." One of the girls smiled. "We all want to make our own friends that we connect well with. Rishi-kun has grown up big and strong during these four years. You don't mind if we get to see you occasionally even after you've made living friends, right?"

"Of course – ttebayo." Naruto smiled. "Even if I find living friends in the future doesn't mean I'm going to cut all of you out. Come visit whenever you want - ttebayo."

Naruto found it highly pleasant when she walked back to the orphanage, a content smile on her whiskered face, so much so that the whispers and glares from those around her did not bother her much that day. It was a good day.

She avoided dinner since she was in a good mood and went straight to her room. When she opened the door slowly, as if it was going to be some earth-shattering dream that never happened, Naruto mentally prepared herself.

But, to see her mum and dad waiting around the room with nothing better to do with their time but wait for her; Naruto's smile only grew wider and a cheerful, "I'm back," echoed through the room.

"Ah, Naruto. How was your day?" Minato asked kindly, mimicking his daughter's smile, the moment he saw her. It only made his day better to see that it was a better day for her.

"It was great! Dattebayo! Jii-chan took me out to Yakiniku Q… and you wouldn't believe it. He told me that when I turn 4 I can have my own apartment and I get to start the Academy. How great is that!"

There was a pause in the air.

"Yosh! We'll start your training tomorrow then." Kushina shouted. Minato wondered if Kushina missed the excitement of the shinobi lifestyle a little bit. He hoped that she wasn't going to have Naruto live for her – he had established that theory when he realised the possibility of other spirits wishing to communicate through her, but, as far as he's seen there weren't many that wanted to talk to their living relatives and friends. Many of them only wanted someone to talk to – at that point Minato was fine with what Naruto wanted to do with her spiritual powers.

"Yeah!" Naruto mimicked her mother in her excitement. Her small fist raised into the air.

"Tomorrow." Kushina stated firmly. "Come on. You need a bath."

"Eeeh?! Bu-"

"No 'but's. Uzumaki Naruto, you are taking a bath right this instant. You haven't touched water for three days."

Naruto wilted a little bit, her bright blue eyes; slightly hopeful turned them up to her see-through mother.

"Kaa-chan," She began.

"What is it?" Kushina replied softly.

"Um, Kaa-chan, take a bath too?"

Kushina paused, slightly shocked despite herself. She had wanted nothing more than to be a parent since she found out that she was going to be a mother, but never thought to join her daughter during her younger years in life. It only reminded her of how her own mother had taken care of her when Uzushiogakure was still standing.

It remind Kushina, in that moment, that acting like a child due her own daughter's lack of friends her own age didn't mean that she was a mother. It only meant she wasn't taking care of her, giving her the love she promised herself she would provide with the miracle that was bestowed upon her.

"Yeah, Naruto, I will. Come on, we'll draw the bath together."

"Yay!"

Naruto rushed out, Kushina happily following behind her. Kushina instructed Naruto on the proper way to draw the bath – in the very least so she didn't burn herself being too hasty.

Once stripped of her clothing, and tempted to jump straight into the water, Naruto was sternly informed that she had to wash herself clean before she could properly enter the water.

"What do you mean?" Naruto asked.

Kushina sighed and instructed her daughter with the patients of a saint. Telling Naruto to sit still on a small plastic chair in front of a mirror, Naruto hosed herself down and followed her mother's every instruction. She could feel her mother's feather light touches over her own hands as she showed her how to washed her hair and clean her back.

Kushina did leave out any detail on the etiquettes of cleaning one's self. After all, she wasn't going to let her daughter running around with dirt in places she couldn't see.

"Kaa-chan?"

"What is it, Naruto?"

"Can I have hair like yours?"

Kushina paused in washing hair and looked at her daughter through the mirror.

"Why?"

"Yours is bright and pretty and red. I like Tou-chan's hair too but you're is straight and long."

"Yours is long and straight too, Naruto."

"Hmm," Naruto paused as she continued to scrub out the dirt. "Yeah, I guess it's 'cause Kaa-chan looks really pretty with red hair."

"Jealous?" Kushina teased.

Naruto didn't say anything but her face flushed bright red before nodding. Kushina gave her a soft smile. "Naruto, Kaa-chan's super happy that you like my hair, just the same as I'm super happy that you're hair is beautiful as well."

"Kaa-chan thinks my hair is pretty?" Naruto asked as she turned to her mother.

"Uhn."

When Kushina gave the 'okay', Naruto jumped into the bath and quietly talked to her mother about her exciting day. The excitement on what she planned to do when she got her own place, her strange expectations on her training, the new (but forced) information Yamanaka Baa-chan had forced onto her during their hours of talking.

It was only after an hour of non-stop talking, did Naruto remember that her mother wasn't there with her the majority of the day.

"Kaa-chan, what were you doing today anyway?"

"I was visiting some friends that are still alive."

…

"Kaa-chan…isn't that spying?" Naruto asked absently.

"Of course, it is – ttebane! Kushina giggled. She placed a finger over her lips as her smiled turned wicked, "But they don't know that, do they?"

"Nope!"

"You're dad and I'll help you, you'll definitely be a great spy."

"A shinobi like Tou-chan and Kaa-chan?"

"Do you really want to be a shinobi, Naruto?"

"You said that you were great ninja."

"You're father and I were both awesome shinobi, Dattebane!"

"Then I'm going to be the best too! I'll be Hokage then! Dattebayo!"

Kushina smiled softly at her bright, blonde, little girl and ran her non-existent hand through her damp hair.

"We'll help you in any way we can to achieve you're dream then, Naruto."

"My dream? Yeah! Believe it!"

* * *

AN: **22/8/15** \- It's been a really long time and you probably wanted a new chapter but I felt like I wasn't doing myself any justice by rushing through this so quickly without taking the proper amount of time to edit and create a larger world that I wished to portray.

But anyway, there should be more updates through the next couple of weeks. Exams are quickly coming up and work is piling up, so I'll do my best to stay on top of that and hopefully Chapter 5 will be with us in the next couple of weeks - but no promises. I am working on it.


	3. Chapter 3: At The Park

**Early Morning – The Park**

"Kaa-chan~, why are we here so early?" Naruto whined, "No one's even up yet."

Naruto rubbed her eyes in frustration. They stung in the corners and agitated from the dry dust and she had slight difficulty adjusting to the light that was barely rising over Hokage Mountain. Her mother was off standing a bit away from her, in the center of the park with a evil glimmer in the corner of her eye. Naruto really wasn't liking where this was going.

"Hush, Naruto, I'm going to begin your shinobi training before my friend and her son turn up," she then whispered to herself, "...and possibly end up kicking your butt."

"Really?!" She was bouncing on her balls of her feet, her hair flying and falling with each movement. "Real shinobi training. What are we doing? Flying through trees? Throwing shuriken? Doing cool ninjutsu?"

Kushina cackled as her eyes glittered in anticipation. "Hardly. You're going to be running laps."

"Kaa-chan, that's boring."

"Well, I'm your teacher now and I said run. Go!"

Naruto gave her mother a deflated look but the moment her fiery red hair began to defy the laws of gravity and chakra, she ran out towards the edge of the park and began her training exercise. Even though her mother's eagle eyes tracked her the whole time, it didn't stop her from mumbling and grumbling under her breath as she continued to run.

The sun was slowly coming up and Naruto felt like she was running for hours. Every couple of laps, she could call out to her mother and ask for her to stop and that she was starting to get hungry. Kushina just returned a sadistic smile but said nothing. What on earth was she planning? Naruto's eyes continued to get narrower.

By the time the population of Konoha was beginning to wake up, Kushina finally called off her "training."

"K-Kaa-chan, you're so mean." The poor girl was faced down in the dirt; her hair stuck to her scalp and her breathing was ragged. "...W-Water..." Her body ached from stiff muscles that groaned and screamed if she dared to move from her place in the dirt. She didn't remember why she was even out in the park that early in the morning any way.

Naruto managed to twist her head to see why her mother wasn't saying anything in reply to her comment, but all she saw was the red-haired woman staring off into the distance.

"K-"

"Shhh, Naruto. People are coming. No more talking, sorry."

She understood. She didn't know completely why she wasn't allowed to talk to other ghosts but she trusted Kaa-chan and Tou-chan that they were looking out for her. It was at that moment that she wondered where they were buried. It was polite to bring gifts for the dead, wasn't it? She wondered whether they would be able to receive them and enjoy them.

What could she get for them that they could enjoy?

Kaa-chan was easy – take away Ichiraku ramen was easy.

Tou-chan…what would he like?

"Oi! What are you doing in the dirt?" A shrilled voice announced.

Naruto's response was to just groan. She couldn't move – couldn't they see that? Stupid idiots. She then felt something poke her in the face. Great now they were patronising her. That was what she got for training with her mother. Maybe she should ask her father to train her instead, it couldn't be much worse.

"Are you sick? Or are you stupid?" The voice was clearly a boy's.

"I'm not sick or am I stupid, dattebayo!" Naruto shouted.

"You're weird. You're tic is weird too!"

"Well, I can't help it –ttebayo! And I was training. Training." She stressed.

Another pair of footsteps drifted toward her ears. They were a lot heavier than the boy's… that only meant one thing… it was an adult. That was bad. Adult meant bad. Adult meant getting yelled at. Adult meant getting glared at and telling their kid to not play with her and further hating her. Adult meant that she was going to have to get up herself, dust herself off and go back to the orphanage before something worst happened.

So, Naruto pulled her weight despite the painful protest from her body and began dragging herself away from the park. Her instincts told her that it was best to stay away while she was alone. It wasn't like the other day when Jiji had taken her out for lunch; back then she was able to run if she needed to, but today her mother had pushed her to her limits that was more than likely put her in a bad situation if she didn't move.

Through a tearful gaze, Naruto was able to see the figure of a blue-black haired boy but wasn't able to comprehend the features of his face but she didn't care. She was able to see the tall shape of a woman coming up behind him.

She turned her head around to find the red-hair woman but wasn't able to see her. Where was she? Wasn't she supposed to protect her? Help her escape from danger like she promised.

"Sasuke, what's the matter?" The woman asked.

The boy –Sasuke– spun around at the sound of the woman's voice and ran off over to her and clung to the hem of her sleeve before pointing over to Naruto. "Kaa-chan, there's a strange girl over there. I think she's hurt."

"Hurt?"

Naruto had managed to pull herself up but fell rather ungracefully. Her back bumped against the thick base of a tree, sending a shot of pain through her nervous system. A new wave of tears clung to the edge of her eyes. It was then that she felt hopeless; she wasn't able to get up and get away.

Her mum wasn't there to support her like she always was but she was a big girl she couldn't rely on her parents all the time –was what she thought angrily.

She was going to be a ninja after all but she couldn't even get up from a simple run around in a park.

"Are you okay?"

Naruto snapped her eyes open and stared into deep and worried inky black eyes. Scared and defensive, she kept her guard up. But she had never seen worry in another adult's eyes beside her mother and father's. It sent a new wave of emotion through her. She wanted to place her trust in a woman that she barely knew but wasn't glaring at her or keeping her distance. Naruto felt her throat clam and swell.

She wanted to answer the question that only her parents and Jiji had asked her. Instead she just mutely nodded her head.

"What are you doing out here so early in the morning?"

"T-training."

The conversation stopped there. The woman didn't say anything nor did she indicate that there was something wrong with a young girl training so early in the morning. She just turned her head with a questioning gaze to her son who was still clinging to her sleeve.

"Training for what?" Sasuke asked out of pure curiosity.

"Ninja."

There was another pause. Naruto blinked away her receding tears was able to got a good look at woman –and she was beautiful. She wasn't the same as her own mother but in a more complimentary way. Her long blue-black hair matched and reflected her kind eyes. Her physique was soft and motherly. Naruto could see how her own mother had retained her brash personality due to her death and maintained her youthful endeavours, while the boy's mother had aged as the years went on but managed to do it dutifully.

Naruto wondered whether if there was hope for the adults to not hate her like Jiji and she saw the sliver of hope in the woman's face as her thoughts returned to her.

"What's your name, Jou-chan?"

"I'm Uzumaki Naruto. The future ninja, believe it!"

The woman only smiled, but one thing was obvious to Naruto –it wasn't fake.

"Well, Naruto-chan, my name's Mikoto and this little man here is my son Sasuke. Sasuke?" Mikoto coaxed her son into talking to the blonde girl in the hopes of re-establishing her sense of loss and making up to Kushina for not being able to look after the girl.

Sasuke held on tighter to his mother's sleeve as he stared curiously at the girl who had since relaxed since they met only moments before.

He didn't know what was wrong with her, he had heard his mother walking up to the park before he watched the girl tense and trying to run away. His mother was nice…when she wasn't yelling at him and Itachi (mainly him) for messing up the house in some way or another.

"Oi, what's wrong with you? Are _you_ broken?" Naruto teased.

"No!" Sasuke snapped. "I'm Uchiha Sasuke. If anyone's broken it's you, brat."

"Who are you calling a brat?! You're a brat too –ttebayo."

The sound of a woman's laughter had caught Naruto's ears and she turned away to see her mother had once again returned, little Naruto's anger filled ten-fold at the sight of her sadistic mother that forced her into the early morning training session but simmered at the reassurance that was her mother's presence. It reminded her to keep her anger in check that she wasn't able to talk to the dead and that she was being childish which was the reason her mother was laughing at her in the first place.

Kushina after wiping away a stray tear and gave her tiny daughter a foxy grin while she pointed at Mikoto.

It then dawned on Naruto that was the woman was Kushina's friend and son that she wanted she was meant to meet.

Naruto was in slight shock, her eyes shot to look at Sasuke who had lost his previous anger in confusion before her eyes stared at Mikoto. Naruto couldn't help it…as her voice trembled to find the words she continued to stare at Mikoto.

"D-Did you know my p-parents?" Naruto asked.

Mikoto was a little shocked at the question. She pondered on why Naruto would ask such a question before she realised that it was probably ask her directly. She didn't want to have to go to the Hokage to be interrogated on whether she told Naruto something that could possibly have her executed for revealing a S-rank secret of the village. Especially since her parentage was one that only very few knew from personal friends.

"Why do you ask that, Naruto-chan?"

"N-No one's been this nice to be, beside Jiji." Naruto cringed.

Mikoto felt a pang of guilt filter through her as she stared down had her deceased friend's daughter. She had wanted nothing more than to scoop her up into a hug and tell her that everything was going to be fine but that could possibly never be the case with Naruto being the Jinchuuriki of Konoha.

"Well then, how about you join us to play then? What do you think about that, Sasuke-kun?"

Sasuke groaned under his breath.

His mother only used '-kun' when she was threatening him to stop playing with his brother and to join them for dinner. Sasuke nodded his head and took another look at the strange girl –she was…interesting, as far as an Uchiha could extend their compliments.

"What do you want to play?" Sasuke asked weakly.

"…How about ninja? I never played it before but it looks like a lot of fun."

Sasuke demonstrated his shock in the most astounded way an Uchiha could and stuck with it.

"Never? Do you live under a rock?"

"Rude. I live at the orphanage –ttebayo!" Naruto retreated into her what little shyness she had and meekly scratched the back of her head. "The other kids wouldn't let me play, I don't know why."

"Humph. Looks like I'll have to show you and show you how it's done." Sasuke replied slightly proud of the fact that he was teaching someone else something and promptly took after his older brother in the same manner that he had with Sasuke.

Mikoto smiled at the children as the two walked away from her, Sasuke explaining the rules to Naruto before pulling away quickly, slapping her on the shoulder announcing her as the rouge-nin and the jungle gym was the jail. Naruto loudly complained as she made a run for it as Sasuke gave her the chase. Mikoto lowered herself down onto one of the park benches, placing the picnic basket next to her as she gazed wistfully at the children.

"Ne, Kushina, do you think this is the best that I can offer for your daughter?" Mikoto asked absently to no one in particular.

* * *

Kushina sat next to her old friend as she too watched with the same expression. Even though their personalities were far from one another, they found that they had many of the same traits. They were naturally motherly –no matter how angry they got. They were both fiercely protective of their children. Kushina remembered when she would join Mikoto for lunch, while she played with Itachi and continually tease him for being too uptight for a 4-year-old.

Kushina released a weary sigh.

"Mikoto-chan, you worry too much. I might be dead but I'll never leave my daughter alone no matter how hard things get. You're thinking too little of yourself…Just being with her is enough to make her happy where we couldn't support her." Kushina smiled lightly. "Minato would want the same too."

* * *

Naruto managed only once to tag Sasuke on the back, switching the roles around before Mikoto called out for lunch. It was only then that she realised just how hungry that she was. She didn't eat breakfast since no one was up at that time and was too excited about the training to bother stealing anything from the fridge.

_Growl~_

"Oi, Dobe, Kaa-chan said 'lunch', are you coming?"

"Who are you calling 'Dobe' –ttebayo?!" Naruto growled before it turned into a defeated sigh when her stomach rumbled again. "I'll come back soon. I promise."

Sasuke shrugged his shoulders and walked away. The forest that they had managed to wonder into during their game had been a little further out from the park but Sasuke knew that his mother was able to sense where they were and they were still in the village and was far from dangerous.

As Sasuke walked down the slight hill back to the park, he felt a sudden change in the wind and spun around. Off to the further tree line was a taller child's figure that only caused Sasuke's face to light up with absolute delight at the sight of the older boy.

"Nii-san!" He ran over and hugged Itachi with the all of his strength and the older boy could laugh with a genuine smile flittering onto his features.

"It's good to see you playing, Sasuke. But isn't it a little early for the other kids?"

"Nah, I was playing with this weird girl, her name's Naruto."

Itachi didn't display his shock visibly at the sound of his brother playing with the Jinchuuriki, but his guard was definitely raised in response, he wasn't going to tell Sasuke that though. He had seen the girl in question running around the village from time to time, with a large admirable smile implanted on her face as she chased after meaningless things that he didn't particularly care about. But Itachi got the impression that the girl was someone that made a huge impact on people without meaning to.

"Where is she now?" Itachi didn't feel any chakra signatures around the area beside his mother's that was further toward the East.

"She went off somewhere. I don't know. Kaa-chan called for lunch. Come on, Nii-san. Is the academy finished for today? –" Sasuke continued to ask Itachi countless questions as he dragged him in the direction of the food.

When they got to the clearing, Mikoto was resting quietly on a blanket with a large box of different sandwiches sliced neatly into rectangles, packed neatly and ready to eat. Mikoto looked up from her cooling cup of tea from her thermos to spot both her sons there instead of one son and one young girl.

"Where's Naruto-chan?"

"She ran off once you called for lunch. I don't know where."

Mikoto frowned at the sound of her son's reply. She wondered if there was something wrong for Naruto to run off by herself without giving her reason. She turned her head to Itachi, who only gave her a shrug of the shoulders –meaning he turned up after she left. Mikoto sighed and waved the boys over to eat with her.

"Itachi, did the Academy end early today?" Mikoto asked. It wasn't like her son to skip.

"Yes. Sensei's girlfriend became gravely ill and was called away. There wasn't enough people to substitute and our class was let off early."

"That's terrible. I hope the poor girl's going to be okay."

Itachi replied with another shrugged. He did care about what happened to the people in Konoha, but he just didn't want to show it on his face, especially to others. Mikoto sighed in response to her eldest son but knew what went through his head well enough to interpret his gestures. She passed the box over to Itachi and he took a sandwich with a thank you before Sasuke leaned over and took one for himself.

It was a couple of moments later the bright cheery blonde had returned with a plastic bag in one hand while the other was frivolously waving at the small group. However, when she spotted the new addition to the group, she halted in her tracks and began making her way towards the group more cautiously, evaluating the new possible threat. Naruto was always cheery from what Itachi could see, so it was strange when he saw her face fall at the sight of him. Sasuke felt a little weird around the girl since she wasn't exactly the respectable girl type that the older Uchiha usually bragged about around the compound. Mikoto just had her eyes on the plastic bag that was in Naruto's hand the whole time since her appearance.

"Naruto-chan, what do you have there?" Mikoto asked.

"Oh, um, well, since you called lunch. I was told that it's not nice to take food from other people, so I went to the store and bought some of their packet sandwiches they have on the really tall shelf."

The small Uchiha group frowned ever so slightly.

"What's your problem, Dobe? Kaa-chan called both of us." Sasuke called out.

Although, Itachi didn't know the girl, he did have manners and even if what his little brother had said was true it still didn't stop him from poking his brother in the forehead. "Ow, Nii-san~"

"It's not polite to talk to people like that, Sasuke."

Naruto stared at the older boy for a moment, wondering when he had turned up exactly but when he defended her and called her a 'person' rather than a 'demon' she was rather content with his presence along with the other Uchiha that sat on the picnic blanket.

It was during that time that Naruto noticed that a lot of other groups of people had entered the park as well, but the moment she made eye contact with one of them or their parents their faces had turned to a sneer and rushed away. She felt a pang of pain in her heart at the sight and pulled out her purchased food but it was quickly snatched away from her."Huh?"

"Naruto-chan, I asked the two of you to come to lunch, didn't I?"

Naruto twitched from both the scolding and instinct that she got from her own mother time and time again. A faint blushed dusted on her face as she mumbled a meek, "Yes."

Mikoto sighed and held out the box of sandwiches over to Naruto and watched through half-lidded eyes as she stared at the box, turned to her, back at the box and then over to Sasuke who just nodded his head with a faint (yet offended) smile. Naruto reached up cautiously and took a salad and chicken sandwich and bit into it.

A watery smile wobbled on her face as she continued to chew as tears dripped down her face.

There was no helping it. It was the first time Naruto felt like she was ever going to taste a mother's cooking that was full of love –as well as one that was extended out to her of all people.

Naruto was very happy that her mother dragged her out of bed that morning.

* * *

AN: So Naruto's met Sasuke that was brought up with the opportunity with Kushina's spying. As long as Naruto's happy - Kushina's happy.

I wanted to try and make the chapters longer since I know I won't be able to write as many as I like or find the time to completely dedicate myself to my stories. I know if any readers of my other stories are reading this than I'm only going to say that I'll get back to Daughter to King when I can but no promises but I'll probably get back to it once the manga's finished with the Dressrosa Arc.

Just so everyone knows I haven't finished reading Naruto so if there is anything that is out of place or wrong in any way please tell me straight away, I personally hate OOC or mis-information of any kind. So please tell me straight away and I'll change it.

AND WOH ONLY 2 chapters and 15 reviews that's an amazing feat. I'm really glad you all like it. I can only offer my utmost thanks to all of you.


	4. Chapter 4: Oncoming Storm

**Months after meeting Sasuke – July of the New Year**

As the days passed throughout another year, Naruto had felt odd when she was invited over to the Uchiha Compound to celebrate Sasuke's birthday on that warm July day. It was strange to her since she had never been anywhere close to the Compounds of the Noble Clans. She preferred to stay away from them the most since they held more hatred toward her. She didn't know why but when she asked her father he said that it was because they were shinobi and their feelings were a lot stronger since they had difficult work.

So while Naruto stood off close to an alleyway at a safe distance with her eyes curiously staring at the large entrance that had the black flags with the white and red fans billowing in the light summer breeze. Her eyes warily flickered over to the Uchiha guard that sat in sternly in a small booth. Did they all have that expression? It was a question that she always asked.

She had actually asked Sasuke that question once and his response was to only look around his overly large family from his spot atop of a tree that over looked the compound from outside of its walls. He then told her that it was mainly the shinobi side, but Naruto began to argue that it probably wasn't. The heated argument continued until Itachi had arrived to pick up his brother from his play date.

It was during those times when Itachi had went to pick up his brother did Naruto realised the admiration that Sasuke had for his older brother, that only gave her a wave of envy as she wished she had someone that was closer to her age to admire.

But despite the confidence that Naruto had in Sasuke (and slightly in Itachi and Mikoto) it still didn't help the butterflies in her stomach that prevented her from arriving on time for Sasuke party. She wondered if there were going to be a lot of people like in the books and stories that her mother had told her, she wondered whether or not there was going to be a big cake with lots of delicious food with colourful streamers. Her imagination went wild with the giddy scene but it also brought up her doubts for the situation. What if they didn't like her? Or if she was only allowed to give her present and was forced to leave. After all, Sasuke was only kid that liked her...she didn't know about Itachi, he wasn't around a lot of the time. But Sasuke didn't have any power over his family's decisions no matter what day of the year it was.

Having finally given up on her situation, Naruto sucked in a deep breath, puffing out her chest to appropriately convey just how threatening she was and began storming toward the gate of the Uchiha Compound.

The guard easily spotted her and narrowed his eyes. It was the brat that was causing the distance between his clan and the village. And no matter how what was known in history; the fact that Uchiha Madara had controlled the Kyuubi with the Sharingan had caused suspicion amongst the villagers since the second Kyuubi attack.

"What do you want?" The guard restrained a snarl.

"Um, I'm here to see Sasuke-kun." Naruto pressed. "It's his birthday! Dattebayo! Can I see him?"

The guard held his strain to keep his face from contorting as he just settled back into his seat. His arms crossed over his chest as his eyes continued at stare –glare– at the girl.

Naruto shifted from one foot to the other, wishing that she had asked her mother to come with her to show her the way. It was her first time to the compound and was worried that she would be late if she entered and got lost.

So, she stayed put, rolling on the balls of her feet and fiddled her fingers.

After 10 minutes the guard was beginning to get annoyed with the girl that refused to go into the compound without permission, despite rejecting her 5 minutes prior and continued to stand firm on not letting the little beast onto their family's sacred ground.

* * *

Sasuke had been sprawled out across his family's living room floor, his little hands ran across the etches of the tatami mats, while his eyes were lazily glued to the roof that provided as much entertainment as watching grass die. Sure, it was his birthday and he was excited to have a party like the other kids but he understood that it would only be a small family gathering between his closest members of his family.

But the reason he was sulking was because it was almost midday and there was no sign of the temperamental idiot that he had spent a majority of his time with, when he wasn't training. He grudgingly admitted that he did like the girl; she was a lot of fun. She didn't care about the Uchiha clan nor did she like it when he would tease her about being better than her at training, whether it was because he bragged about his family name or because he was actually better than her, he didn't care, he just wanted to brag for once without having "well your brother's better, so I don't see the point you're trying to make.

And despite all that...Naruto was a lot of fun to be around.

Sure, he loved being around his family but there was underling suffocation that he wasn't able to take sometimes that only Naruto's cheerful personality was able to shine through and clear his foul mood.

Sasuke got up from his spot on the floor and left the room and made his way to his mother, who was sitting on the step out to the garden enjoying the peaceful day.

"Kaa-chan?" Sasuke began timidly.

"Yes, Sasuke?"

"When will Naruto show up? Do you think she forgot?"

His mother gave his a warm smile as she patted the spot next to her on the patio, deciding to enjoy the hot afternoon sun. He sat down slowly as he anticipated her answer.

"I don't think she would forget easily. Naruto-chan was very excited when you told her that your birthday was coming up and that she would get to come to the compound."

"Yeah… So, when will she be here?"

"I know it's your birthday but you have to be patient. Naruto will come when she's ready. After all, you didn't give her a lot of time to go and find you a present." Mikoto chuckled.

Sasuke fell back onto his back with a bit of a groan and proceeded to return to sulking.

…

"…Is she here yet?" Sasuke pushed.

"Not yet. I'll tell you when she's here, okay? How about you go talk with your father about training."

"Okay." It was more of a whine than a confirmation.

* * *

Naruto began getting nervous. She didn't know anyone other than the Head family and she highly doubted that it would help asking anyone else. They never went out of their way for her anyway. Ever.

"Naruto?"

She spun around at the sound of her name was bumped straight into soft clothing that cushioned her impact.

"Ow." She looked up at person who decided to grace her with her presence. "Itachi-san?"

"Hn. What are you doing out here? Sasuke's been waiting for you since he woke up this morning."

"Hahaha, well, um, I don't know the way to your house. And I didn't want to get lost in the compound just in case."

"That's fine. I'll take you."

Itachi walked around her and Naruto watched as he walking into the compound without even blinking. He did, however, politely nod at the guard as if saying that he was glad he was looking out for her but she scratched that thought away for the sheer stupidity of it.

Itachi stopped when he noticed that she wasn't following him. He didn't say a word to tell her to hurry up or anything that suggested annoyance. He didn't portray any other that, regardless, Naruto's chest filled with the same warm feeling she did when Sasuke showed up to play and replied to the slightly older boy with a smile on her face and without hesitation, attached herself to his side. Even if it was just waiting for her, it meant the world to her.

The trip to the main house was quiet but Naruto was content with just staying by someone's side that didn't hate her.

Itachi had his eye on the little bouncing blonde. Her smile was bright and radiating, something that wasn't often seen in the Uchiha compound especially with the growing tension the longer he was together with her, but...strangely, it did put him at ease.

It was peaceful.

He was glad that his brother found someone to attach himself to, especially in a place where he himself didn't know which side of the battle he was on. He was just glad that his brother had someone else to rely on when he wasn't around to do so. Being a Chuunin meant being away from the village a lot longer than an official Genin.

"Are you training with my brother?" Itachi found himself asking.

Naruto blinked up at the older boy. He had only recently turned 11 and had been a Chuunin a close to a year and was fairly tall in comparison to Naruto but she loved to tease him for being far shorter than the other boys in his class. He guessed that she didn't fully comprehend the fact that she was going to grow up short herself, anyone could tell straight away, he just wasn't horrible enough to directly point it out to her.

"Yeah, it's a lot of fun training with someone -ttebayo."

"How's Sasuke?"

Their conversations always managed to turn back to his younger brother but Naruto never seemed to mind.

"He's awesome! He's so good at training. It's not fair sometimes since he always wins but I'll beat him one day and then he won't be laughing. Shishishi" She was determined and that was about it.

His face softened at the news of his brother and was glad that he now had someone else he could let his guard down around as well. But, better yet, his brother was better matched with someone his own age, rather than him, someone who was far older and more skilled.

"What did you get for his birthday?" Itachi asked.

"None. Of. Your. Business." Naruto spelled out.

Naruto was playful, and this caused Itachi to allow a small smirk grace his young face.

* * *

The two arrived at the house only moments later and Itachi flared his chakra before opening the door. He did this every time he returned; he rather enjoyed it when his mother told Sasuke that he was back from his mission without even hearing a sound.

"Nii-san!"

Ah, the shrilled voice of Sasuke was always something to marvel.

"I'm home."

When the birthday boy made it to the front door. He pulled to complete stop. His eyes were immediately on Naruto rather than his brother.

"You're late!" Sasuke accused. His finger pointed out and stern.

"Sorry. I didn't know where your place was." Naruto smiled sheepishly as she scratched the back of her head in the same manner that her mother did.

"So, you just stood in front of the compound?"

"Yeah…"

Sasuke silently fumed. Did she even care? It was his birthday. He was allowed to be selfish for one day of the year and he had wanted to spend the whole day with his only friend.

His face was flushed with childish anger. Naruto began waving her hands in front of her face and began stuttering in a vague attempt to calm Sasuke down. Itachi just watched the interaction with fain amusement. He could have easily poked his little brother on the forehead and it would have triggered the calming response, however, he rather pleased with just watching the interaction.

When Sasuke lost control of his emotion, tears almost spilled. That caused further panic in the girl and her response was to leap at the boy and pull him into a childish hug.

"I'm sorry." Naruto pleaded, "I didn't want to be late. Promise. I didn't wanna ge' lost and be even later –ttebayo."

Naruto pulled back and smiled widely at the young boy. "I have your present right here. I didn't get a chance to wrap it, since the lady kicked me out for staying too long."

She reached into her pocket to pull out the gift; however, someone had grabbed her before she could give it to the birthday boy. Naruto turned around and met Itachi's rather hollow gaze.

"Itachi-san?"

"Kaa-san prefers to give gifts after cutting the cake." He said simply.

"Then let's go cut cake…what's cake?"

Something heavy fell over the young group. Be it pity, sympathy or something else all together, it placed itself on the Uchiha boys' shoulders and weighed them down in a rather sudden depressing mood.

"How could you have not know what cake is, Stupid?" Sasuke snapped.

"Don't call me 'Stupid', Dummy!"

"You can't call me 'Dummy'. It's my birthday!" He countered and he won.

Naruto couldn't think of anything that was able to counter the birthday card and angrily shut her mouth as she glared at the slightly older boy. Even though the interaction had angered her on the surface, in general it had tickled her pink with happiness as she felt the flutter in her stomach in anticipation for further happy memories.

Itachi gave a light chuckled as he took off his shoes and pushed the two kids into the house. His mother was waiting for them. Best not keep her waiting.

Once Itachi had pushed the two kids, it had reminded them of their objective and Naruto quickly slid off her own shoes and Sasuke snatched up her arm and dragged her into the house at high speeds. Their little feet echoed the traditional building and a new essence of life had filtered through the family environment that made it even more comfortable.

"Kaa-chan! Naruto finally came! Can we go out to play out in the forest?" Sasuke called out into the house.

"Sure. Just make sure Itachi goes with you. Don't force him to play with you though. He just got back." Mikoto returned. Her head poking out from the kitchen.

"I don't mind, Kaa-san." Itachi smiled. "It's Sasuke's birthday."

_The birthday card again_.

Mikoto sighed but returned her motherly smile.

"Very well. Hello, Naruto-chan."

"Hello, Mikoto-san!" Naruto paused. "Mikoto-san, what's cake?"

The Uchiha mother blinked a couple of times as she stared down at the bright blonde before smiling.

"Mah, you'll just have to wait until after dinner then. I'm cooking it now." Mikoto smiled. She then turned met Itachi's gaze. "Your father's going to be back soon from his shift. Don't stay out too long."

Sasuke huffed at the sound of his brother being dragged off to do something with his father and returned to dragging Naruto out toward the back of the house in order to get away from the house. He threw the back door open as he pulled her into the backyard and toward the forest that encircled the compound. It was full of overly large, thick trees; he had played with Itachi plenty of times in the forest. It was ideal for training as well as games for the other kids at the compound.

But there was a special place a little ways out that Sasuke and Itachi had particularly enjoyed, and made the birthday boy happier to show his friend. He wanted Naruto to see just how close was to being a part of the family. Even if it was his birthday he wanted it to be a fun day for the both of them and just say that she was special enough for him to share his special spot.

He wasn't blind. He saw the way the other kids and parents treated her. Like a plague. Like a monster. Like a rat. Like...a missing-nin from Leaf. Naruto could be daft but she wasn't evil like they said. That was when he found out that she didn't have a family and they told her that they had abandoned her at the orphanage, but it wasn't until their fifth play date, far away from Mikoto that she had actually told him the truth about her parents. That they were actually dead and that she liked that idea better than them abandoning her and thinking that she was unloved her whole life.

It had confused him further but something at the back of his mind told him that he wanted to protect her from the darkness of the world. She had nothing but a smiled like the sun but never fought back when she was wrong...and sometime even when she was right. But if there was one thing that he admired about her it was that she never cried. At least not around him; he knew that much.

She was confusing.

* * *

After about a ten-minute hike through the thick bush they came to a thin clearing. The afternoon sun shone through the leaves, contrasted the deep warm yellow shine against the vibrant green. The wood echoed the sound of life around them and the air was clear and easy to breath.

The breath of fresh air filled all their lungs and brought a sense of relaxation but also a newfound will of exploration and excitement that began to build in their bloodstream. The essence of peace bathed over them with the comforting light as the children felt like they were really away from village. Itachi felt like he was away from the duties of the shinobi world and the Uchiha clan, Naruto felt that she was away from the stares and glares and Sasuke felt that he was away from pressure of his father and the clan; it was lovely.

"Wow~" Naruto exclaimed. "This place is so cool. We're playing here? Will Mikoto-san be able to find us?"

"Kaa-chan, doesn't know where this is. But Nii-san will tell us when she calls."

"Okay, dattebayo. What do we play?" She asked.

There was a short pause.

"How about Hide-and-Seek?" Itachi replied simply.

Naruto slipped into a foxy grin and held out her fist, readying for rock-paper-scissors. Sasuke smirked and held out his fist as well. Itachi counted to three before throwing in result at the last moment. The result was Naruto counting to twenty with her face pressed up against a kunai-marked tree as base, while the Uchiha brothers ran off to find a hiding spot.

"1…2…3…"

Naruto began counting with her hands loyally placed over her eyes and her head pressed up against the large tree.

"4…5…6…7…8…"

That was when she felt something cold, yet warm brush passed her.

A ghost.

Doing her best to repress a shiver, she continued counting with a bit of stutter.

"N-Nine…t-ten…11…12…"

That was when she felt the ghost's hand ruffle up against her hair like a soft breeze. She relaxed under the gentle touch. It was faint but as long as it wasn't hurting her with or without words then there wasn't anything that she had to worry about.

By the time that she had finished counting and called out, "Ready or not, here I come!" Her determination once again soared into the sky.

She began running around in a random direction with the wind fluffing up against her face. She looked behind as many trees as she thought hid the older boys. It had been a little over five minutes before her stature and eagerness began to diminish.

She returned back to the kunai-marked tree that was home base with a groan but took off into a different direction from where she had started. That was until she ran straight through a rather tall man.

The result was for her to skid to a halt and spin around. Bad move.

"Ah! The little miss can see me."

_Shit. _

Naruto tried to ignore him by continuing to look through his stomach but it didn't work for very long when she noticed the outdated shinobi uniform that the man wore and looked up to meet his gaze.

He had long brown hair, brown eyes…and just about brown everything. His clothes and tanned skin; except the red armor. Naruto gave him a strained look, which only resulted in the man to curl up into a ball and start crying at the sight of the hostility she was emitting.

"Oi!" Naruto called out.

The man looked up at her with slight teary eyes that made her flinch at the sight. From either pity or just the strangeness of the whole ordeal.

_What a strange ghost_.

"Um, can you help me find my friends? We're playing hide-and-seek but I can't find them."

The man jumped at the sound of helping someone and rushed over to her side with a large eager grin printed on his face. "Sure. I know where they are. I'll help you…but on one condition." The man stated with a pointed finger held up in front of her face.

"What…?"

"You have to visit my grave tomorrow. No exception. Do we have a deal?"

"You're strange." The man crumpled. "But I'll be happy to visit. I've been meaning to visit Kaa-chan and Tou-san too. So, where are they?" Naruto bounced.

Naruto watched as the overly dramatic man, as he once again returned to his boundless personality and guided her to a single tree far from where she had previously pursued. The man pointed up at the one of the branches and that was where Naruto found Itachi curled up with a slight smug smirk hidden away.

"Oi~! Itachi-san, I found you~!"

Itachi's form stiffened and his head shot out and stared down at the little blonde tike that found him sitting on a branch that was ten meters off the ground.

Little kids didn't look passed their feet. How on earth did she find him?

Itachi grudgingly jumped from the branch and stood in front of the rather smug girl that was half his height. He felt a little betrayed in his abilities as a Konoha shinobi but he also knew that he was only playing a friendly game.

But it was then that he realised how unfair he was on the girl. If had been Sasuke that had been 'it' then he knew that he would have been likely to have stayed on the ground and probably probed for Sasuke to use his training skills that he learned from the clan to benefit him. But with Naruto, he had allowed the rumors and fallacies to control his judgment and hide somewhere that was bound to make her lose.

At that point he felt greatly ashamed.

"Come on, Itachi-san. Let's go find Sasuke."

"'Itachi' is fine."

"Huh?"

"'Itachi' is fine. You don't need to have to use '-san' all the time."

"If I call you Itachi, does that make us friends?"

"Hn."

"I'll take that as a 'yes'." Naruto smiled. Her pearly white teeth sparked in the light and made her golden hair rather heavenly. She turned her back and pointed in front of her. "Let's go. Lead the way."

_'__Lead the way?_'_I don't think she understand what she's saying just yet_. Itachi snickered.

Naruto eyed the smiling man again as he lead the way to the other boy with ease. She kept her eyes on the spirit, while Itachi held his gaze on the her while she cheerfully sort out Sasuke's hiding spot. After about a minute, Naruto called out his name, finding him hidden under some bush with his hair clearly visible and full of twigs.

Sasuke declared immediately that she had cheated but when he spotted his brother along side her, he was a little happy to admit his defeat and that he wasn't the one that was going to be the next person that was going to count.

"Nii-san, are you getting sloppy?" Sasuke teased.

Itachi pocked him in the forehead but said nothing.

"I'm counting, so you better get going."

Sasuke grinned and ran off but turned around when he didn't hear an extra pair of footsteps with him. He stopped just as his brother began counting. His eyes watched the girl that was now a younger than him. She was staring into space, then nodded her head and ran off into a different direction than him.

His curiosity peaked and his legs betrayed him as he found himself shuffling through the grass to follow his friend. Her tiny form walking through the forest as if she knew exactly where she was going; she didn't look around to find a place to hide… just walked.

_Where on earth is she going?_

Sasuke soon found his answer when Naruto stopped in front of a rather large tree that shrouded in moss and the base of the tree had plain berry bushes.

"Is this where you wanted to show me?" Naruto asked.

_Who was she talking to?_

"Really?! That's so cool. It's like a secret base. I always wanted a secret base. The other kids at the orphanage wouldn't let me play with them when I asked to be part of their secret club." Naruto continued.

Sasuke was getting agitated as he continued to watch the blonde talk to thin air. But the moment that she moved, he hid himself behind a tree (be it rather poorly) and continued to observe her.

Naruto pulled her hair behind her ears and rolled up her non-existing sleeves before making her way over to the bushes and tugged on them with all of her tiny four-year-old strength. As she pulled for about 3 seconds the roots came undone and Naruto quickly threw them aside and in its place was a large gaping hole at the base of the large tree.

"Wow, that's so cool! How'd you know it was here? This is the best hiding spot. Itachi-sa-, Itachi will never find me here." Naruto giggled. But then she stopped. "This is your tree? And you'll let me hide here? …Thanks -ttebayo."

Naruto disappeared into the tree and began shouting about how cool and big it was. Sasuke could only slam his hand against his face about how easily she was giving away her location to his brother and was most likely already looking around by now.

That was when he realised that he was too busy watching Naruto to even find a spot for himself. He left his spot from behind and grabbed the discarded bush before pulling it behind him as he made his way into the hollow tree.

"S-Sasuk-"

"Loud Mouth," Sasuke hissed. "Nii-san's already looking for us."

"Oh. Sorry." Naruto replied sheepishly as she scratched the back of her head.

He could only huff with slight amusement at the display before sitting down in the slightly damp dirt. He had to admit that it was a good hiding spot, but the question was still in his head. How did she find it and whom on earth was she talking to? He had to admit that he was slightly jealous at the sight of his friend not talking to him as much as he felt that she should have.

He watched with curious eyes as his friend sat down across from him and pulled her legs up and hugged them. He noticed her ears twitching as if listening to something like a bat.

"What are you doing?" He found himself asking.

"What do you mean?"

"You're ears keep twitching."

"What's that suppose to mean?"

"You're listening to something."

Naruto fell uncharacteristically quiet.

"What is it? You can tell me," Sasuke pushed lightly.

Naruto stared deep into Sasuke's eyes like she was looking for something. A confirmation? Something that told her that he was good enough to share something incredibly deep. He had thought that her being an orphan was something that was pretty deep since his mother told him that it mean that she didn't have any parents to look after her and was all by herself. But whatever it was that Naruto had to say, he told himself he wouldn't judge.

He noticed from the corner of his eye that her ears twitched again, before she sighed.

"Y-You promise not to laugh –ttebayo." She was so shy suddenly. Sasuke was slightly concerned. It wasn't like his tomboyish friend to be…well, effeminate.

"Promise. Otherwise I wouldn't be a good friend, would I?"

Naruto gave a small smile but there was still a sense of her uneasiness.

"Okay. You won't laugh." There was a short pause. "I-I can see ghost, dattebayo."

…

…

…

"Huh?"

"I-I already told you, didn't I?!" Naruto called out.

"Shh." Sasuke hushed. He looked behind him and quickly looked through the bushes to see if he could see any sign that Itachi was closing in on them. When he turned around he returned to the matter at hand. "I'm not saying that I don't believe you. But it is pretty impossible."

Her ears twitched before her eyes hazed over but not from tears.

No. It was a different type of haze. Her once bright blue eyes that sparkled like the summer days in Suna had glazed over with mist that rivaled those from Kiri.

"_Hello~"_ Another voice had left echoed over the top of Naruto that was far deeper and rather strange to hear from the young girl's body.

"What? W-Who are you and what did you do to Naruto? Give her back!" Sasuke stood up, building up his stance as he glared at the thing that obviously took over his friend's body.

"_Woh, woh, woh. Hold up, wait a minute."_ Naruto flung her arms around in front of her in a display of surrender. "_I'm not going to hurt her. I just wanted to help prove her point."_

"Who are you?" Sasuke glared.

"_Senju Hashirama. The little girl promised to visit my grave if I helped her with your little game."_

"T-The S-Shodaime Hokage?!" It was a huge shock to anyone that they were talking to the First Hokage who had died over two –maybe three generations ago. But what also shocked him was the very sound of Naruto's voice.

The young feminine voice echoed after the masculine voice of the ghost that had possessed the body of the girl.

"_It is strange being in a body again; I have to tell you. I wonder if this chakra is what Mito felt." _Naruto's body moved to inspect her arms as if they were foreign objects.

"Get out of Naruto! I get it!" Sasuke threatened.

"_You're a good kid and so is she. So, look after her."_

"Of course I will." He huffed as he crossed his arms over his chest.

Naruto's head nodded in gratefulness before it went limp. Sasuke immediately went to her side. His hand cautiously placed on her delicate shoulders, but he soon shook her lightly out of worry to gain a reaction. Luckily, a small groan escaped her lips and Sasuke released a sigh of relief that he didn't know that he was holding.

"W-what happened –ttebayo?"

"You just got possessed by the Shodaime Hokage."

"That old geezer was the Shodaime?"

"Heh, guess even the dead don't get your respect, do they?" Sasuke smirked.

Naruto huffed as she pushed her back against the inner walls of the overly large hollow tree. Her body felt a little stiff for some reason that she couldn't put her finger on but ignored it as she felt herself begin to get comfortable again.

She tilted her head up to look up at the open airway at that illuminated the sky over the top of them. The warm light from before had dulled slightly as the sun was beginning to set and Mikoto was about to call for them to return to the house.

In the slight relaxing boredom of having to wait for Itachi to find them, Naruto reached into her pockets instinctively.

"Huh?" Naruto responded to the foreign object.

"What is it?" Sasuke perked.

Naruto pulled herself forward to keep her voice down. She watched as Sasuke pulled up closer as well. The distance between them was very little as their curled knees touched up against each other in familiarity. Naruto grinned as she rest her head against her knees, while the birthday boy retorted in a strange look.

"I forgot to give you your birthday present. But I want to be the first one." She smiled softly. "I don't really know what you would like, but I got some help from Kaa-chan."

"I thought you said they were dead."

"I can see ghosts, Dummy." Naruto retorted.

Sasuke bit his lip to stop himself for causing further problems between the two of them. After all, Naruto's worry about the whole subject on ghosts was something that had worried her about telling him in the first place. He guessed that if something like that were to worry her then it was important to him to keep the same secret. A silent vow was made that he wouldn't tell unless Naruto was ready to tell first.

Sasuke watched his friend as her hand slipped into her pocket and she pulled out something with a golden shine. He curiously held out his hands as Naruto placed the cold object on top. When he pulled back to get a look at it he found a small golden bracelet that was meant to fit a child's wrist. It wasn't overly big and Sasuke guessed that when he got older he wouldn't be able to wear it anymore he would have to carry it somehow, but it was going to cross that bridge when he got there.

"The lady at the store said that she would give me a discount since she didn't want me to disgrace the Uchiha clan since you were child of the Head. But Kaa-chan said that a present like this meant to be cherished and given to someone dear to you. You don't think it's bad, do you?"

Sasuke took a greatly look at the gold chain. There was a small heart locket that he found was something his mum would like better, but he didn't allow the thought to bother him for too long since it was a present from his first real friend and it wasn't ninja training stuff. Regardless of whether it would haunt him later or whether it was something that would get in the way of training, he loved it no matter what.

After all it was a sign of their friendship.

Sasuke gently popped his head against Naruto's, his dark hair tussling into the blonde's and with a rare smile he replied:

"I like it... Thanks, Naruto."

"Happy Birthday, Sasuke."

* * *

After a couple of moments after Sasuke had gratefully placed the bracelet onto his left wrist, the push shifted and Itachi popped his head in scaring the two kids out of their wits.

"Looks like you two won."

...

"Huh?" The two replied.

Itachi pulled away, allowing the two of them to crawl out back into the open. The oldest brother had his hands on his hips to indicate his slight annoyance that caused Naruto and Sasuke to laugh sheepishly.

"Mum called for dinner. So, you two won our little game of Hide-and-Seek." He declared simply.

Laughter broke out between the two friends as they high-fived each other with celebration of beating a fully trained shinobi in a game of Hide-and-Seek. Itachi eyed the shining new bracelet on his brother's wrist and figured Naruto had given her present early; what an impatient child.

Itachi poked the two of them together before pushing them back toward the compound. It had been a calm day and an enjoyable birthday that everyone had enjoyed.

When they returned to the house, the sun was just crossing over the horizon and the lights in the Uchiha house were on and the tempting swift of a large dinner had caught the noses of the children as they rushed in with excitement and hungry stomachs. Laughter and cheer was evident and contagious within the atmosphere as the small family sat down at the table with their guest and they began dinner.

"Tou-san," Sasuke began, "Guess what, me and Naruto won at Hide-and-Seek against Nii-san."

Fugaku Uchiha was rarely surprised but to hear that his youngest son had won a game against his prodigy son wasn't exactly something to sneeze at and probed his curiosity.

"How is that?" He asked simply.

"We hid inside a hollowed out tree that Naruto found." Sasuke declared.

Fugaku wasn't convinced with his son's explanation and turned to Itachi to explain his own failure. The oldest boy withheld his sigh at the silent interrogation, and was lucky that it quickly passed.

"Their hiding place was rather interesting as they used the tree that the Shodaime gave to Uchiha Clan during the founding. The chakra within the tree properly over lapped Sasuke and Naruto's signatures making it difficult to find them." Itachi properly explained as if it was some sort of mission report to the Hokage. The voice that he had to use to just explain his loss secretly disgusted him but he didn't have the pleasantries to announce it at the dinner table in front of his father and mother.

Fugaku was silent for a long period of time as the family continued to eat the wonderful dinner that Mikoto cooked. Naruto chatted away with the female of the house without any indication to the tension that was present but her constant chatter had brought comfort to the boys even though she didn't know it.

Once dinner was finished and the dishes were packed away into the sink, Mikoto went to get the cake, leaving the children with the stern-faced patriarch of the household.

After a long stand still of silence, Uchiha Fugaku sighed.

He turned to his youngest son with the slightest of a smile that caught the attention of both boys.

"I'm proud of you, Sasuke. Winning against Itachi is an admirable feat."

Sasuke's smile couldn't get any wider as he got up and spun around with Naruto at the announcement of the his father's praise. The rarity of it had just made it all the more pleasurable of a day.

Once Mikoto had brought in the cake and the atmosphere was at peace, Naruto dazzled at the sight of cake and the family sung 'Happy Birthday' to the glowing young boy as he declared it his best birthday to date.

But all good things had to end and Naruto was picked up by a member of Anbu and was walked back to the Orphanage where she excitedly relayed her adventure back to her parents that patiently listened to her every word before promptly putting their child to bed and gave her a whistle of a kiss on her head as she drifted off to sleep with a radiant smile caressing her lips.

* * *

The next morning, when Naruto woke up with her hair out of place and the shouting of other children was a natural equivalent of an alarm, she rubbed her eyes before rolling over hoping to get more sleep.

"Naruto! Get up! It's too late for you to be sleeping in!"

That was her mother. The deceased woman, still managed to be a mother that her wish had been granted by some higher power the day she was able to see the spirits of the dead. Although, Uzumaki-Namikaze Kushina would have possibly called it a curse while she was alive, it was only while she was dead that she saw the ability as the gift that it was.

Now, Kushina had honestly expected her lazy daughter to continue sleeping but when she shot out of bed at the dart of a sudden thought, her voice was lost in her throat. Her and her husband watched as the small blonde darted out of the miniature room to quickly wash up before returning and lifted the mattress to reveal her small stash of allowance that the old Hokage didn't trust to leave with the matrons of the orphanage.

"Naruto, what are you planning on doing with that money?" Minato asked.

"I made a promise with the man in the forest to visit his grave today since he helped me win Hide-and-Seek." Naruto replied.

Minato nodded in understanding as he and Kushina followed the girl out of the orphanage.

"Aren't you going to get breakfast?" Kushina asked. It was odd for Naruto to skip a meal since the girl loved to eat as much as an Akimichi.

"I buy something to eat on the way." She returned simply.

It was rather curious.

Naruto bounced through the busy business of Main Street. There were a lot of main streets in Konoha but the one that she was on what the one that held Yamanaka flower shop that was famous for the beautiful bouquets that were sold for all sorts of occasions. But, as Naruto stood outside of the flower shop with caution. She took a deep breath before she opened the door and the sound of a tinkling bell caught the attention of the cashier.

"Welcome to Yamanaka Flowers. How can I help you today?" The man asked.

Naruto stared at the older blond man as he greeted her without any hint of distain, although she was still cautious when it came to shop keepers since the second that they got their hands on her money their personality would always do a 180.

Naruto walked up to the counter and placed her tiny hands on the counter to pull herself up in an attempt to make eye contact with the man. Her mother told her it was polite to always look a person in the eye when talking to them.

"Um, I'm making an offering." Naruto spoke in the fewest words possible since they generally didn't like her talking more than when she was needed to.

"An offering to the deceased?"

Naruto nodded once.

"Ah. White lilies are usually used for offerings to the deceased." The man informed her.

Naruto stared up at him just as he stared back at her. He watched as her ears twitched.

"Um, could I, actually, um, get one bouquet with Iris and dark Tulip and another of yellow Camellia and dark Tulip."

The man blinked for a moment as he stared at the strange request.

"One bouquet for the noble heart of the deceased (Iris and Tulip) and one for the longing for the deceased (Camellia and Tulip). Are you sure?"

"Sure."

The man complied with the young girl's request and arranged the flowers as requested. Naruto observed the flowers while she waited for her order, her ears twitched as she listened to the elderly deceased Yamanaka woman as she told her the meanings of the flowers as she moved from one set of potted flowers to the next. She did find the arrangement of flowers to be very interesting but the meaning of the flowers did spark her interest and were ingrained into her memory for later use for when she were to pay her respects.

It was a little over fifteen minutes until her flowers were done did Naruto place the money on the counter and thank him for all that he had done for her. The man gave her a business smile and said that he was glad to be of service to such a gentle girl that did damage the flowers while he was away at the back.

"I'm Yamanaka Inoichi by the way. I get a feeling that we'll be seeing a lot of each other."

"Probably. After all, it's not nice to not visit Kaa-chan. But I think she'll like the flowers. Thank you, Yamanaka-san." Naruto smiled as she left with the two small bouquets of neatly arranged flowers.

Inoichi scratched the back of his head as he continued to stare at the Jinchūriki of Konoha as she ran off into the street with a smile on her face. He wondered what could possibly have such a young girl going off to visit the graveyard on such a random day. Wait...Kaa-chan? That's worrying.

When she mentioned her dead mother, it was common knowledge to him as a seasoned shinobi to know that the Jinchūriki didn't have parents.

Inoichi didn't want to think of the possibility of the law being broken because of that information, and since it wasn't his place to intrude on such a sensitive topic of the Jinchūriki without drawing attention to himself and his family, he was going to have to book a time with the Hokage at a later date. The Uchiha were certainly having a lot of attention themselves with their youngest son being on friendly terms with the girl.

* * *

Naruto's next stop to Ichiraku's, with her bouquets in hand she entered the shop with a natural grin on her face and her voice grew louder with familiarity.

"Can I please get some take away ramen." Naruto asked timidly.

Teuchi poked his head out from the kitchen and easily spotted the blonde from over the counter and a smile broke out on his face.

"'Take away', 'd you say? Easy done. What type?"

"T-two miso and one beef ramen p-please." Still weary and standing some distance from the store entrance, she was ready to bolt the moment he acknowledged her order and come back later.

Teuchi stopped his stirring and glanced at the little girl that was hiding away in the corner of his entrance. He had been in Konoha a long time, he had begun making ramen thiry-eight years ago; and although, the Nine-Tails Attack was tragic, as he stared at the bright blonde with fear the same as a rabbit he could only feel a heavy burden of pity.

He knew her mother. He knew her father. He knew the people that should have been in her life at that very moment just well as he knew his wife. To have family ripped away from you at such a young age and to not even know they were dead was worse than anything. After all her parents were a state secret and every was told the story of how she was actually abandoned and sacrificed to contain the Kyuubi.

He then noticed the offerings in her hands and figured that she was going to visit someone that passed away in the orphanage that was probably passed away from an illness. Illness was rather common no matter what season but for kids that weren't able to get desperate health care immediately like in the orphanage meant that they were more prone to death. It was most likely that Naruto wanted to pay her respects to the deceased after the service since she most likely wasn't allowed to attend in the first place.

When Teuchi told her that it would take about twenty minutes to it to be ready, he watched as she disappeared just as fast as any of his shinobi clients. The clenching in his stomach tighten as he put all of his effort into his next batch.

When it was all done, he waited, leaning on the counter for the girl again. A minute passed before she turned up a little winded (for some reason unknown to him.)

"H-How much?" Naruto asked. She was probably in a rush to forget how scared she was previously.

"Don't worry about it. Today's on the house, okay."

Naruto lifted her head higher to get a better look at the man's face. She engrained his face into her memories before offering at least a small smile before she ran off again; but this time with a plastic bag holding the ramen and her bouquets stuffed in her tiny arms.

Teuchi laughed a little at the sight of her dishevel and offered a small wave the girl off He wished he was able to spare a hand in carry her stuff but he still had a business to run and couldn't leave to help one little girl he didn't know. But he wished her the best nonetheless.

Naruto then made a B-line to the graveyard that he had passed countless of time in the passed with her father as he told her stories of many brave shinobi that died on duty and she was confronted with the sight of the occasional number of lost souls that were still on earth with their regrets and weren't able to pass on.

It was then that she had asked her dad why he was still there with her and not on the other side in peace. But he just smiled and told her that it wasn't right for a parent to leave the side of their child until they were confident that they were going to be okay in life.

Naruto didn't understand what he meant but just agreed with it.

When she reached the graveyard, there was no one there. The green grass that grew around the headstones and the soft wind that pushed her hair around her head made the grounds of the dead rather welcoming. Naruto found it a little odd that she felt at peace among the dead rather than the living. She guessed that it was because of the glares that she got from the living.

She found her mum's head stone and laid down the Camellia and Tulip bouquet and pulled out a bowl of ramen and opened it, laying a pair of chopsticks over the top.

Naruto placed the rest of her stuff down next to her as she clapped her hands together and offered her prayer.

"Kaa-chan, I know I see you everyday but it feels different when I'm talking to you like this. It feels better. I don't know what it means but I want to say thank you for looking after me even if you can't touch me. I know you won't tell me where Tou-san's grave is but when I do I'll visit him too. Believe it.

"I got your favourite ramen, so now we can eat like a real family…" Naruto felt the growing lump at the back of her throat as she tried to contain her sob."…I wish you were here with me, Kaa-chan. I know you and Tou-san try really hard to keep me company when I'm on my own but I –hic- I wish you were here. I miss you."

Naruto wiped her eyes and found her mother sitting on the other side of the headstone with a bowl of ramen in her lap and as she offered a watery smile in return.

"How about we eat, Naruto? You're probably hungry." Kushina offered.

"Un." Naruto replied meekly as she pulled out her own bowl of miso ramen and said her thanks for the meal and ate her favourite ramen with her mother.

Naruto wiped her tears and put away her empty bowl. She asked her mother where the Shodaime's grave was she pointed her in the right direction. It was a little further than she thought as the Hokages were buried away from the general area and she found herself in front of an overly large stone with the emblem of fire erected on top of it.

"So this is where the Hokages are buried." Naruto stared.

She placed the bouquet of Iris and Tulip at the base of the large stone, kneeling down she clapped her hands again and offered another prayer.

"Hello again, old man. I visited like I promised." She began. "You probably don't get a lot of visitors now since everyone's gotten old and you're probably really lonely. I can see why you wanted me to see you. If you ever want someone to talk to, I'm always here in Konoha. I get pretty lonely myself. Sasuke's really nice but Kaa-chan says that one day I'll have to make other friends. I think she wants to see more girls around…Oh, I brought one of my favourite meals. I figured that you might want to try it –ttebayo. It's the greatest. I'm sure you'll like it."

Naruto finished her prayer and when she looked up she saw the smiling figure of the First Hokage as he watched as she pulled out the ramen and placed the offering at the base of the stone.

Hashirama and Naruto talked like they were old friends. They talked for hours on end. She told him of her dream to enter the Academy to become a ninja and what it would be like if were to become Hokage and whether or not it was possible; while he encouraged her to aim high, he also warned her of the paperwork that came with it. Hashirama then told her of his little brother that was probably floating around somewhere and that he figured that they would get along since the he saw Naruto as a miniature him.

Naruto told him that she wished that she had a brother and he retorted that the way that her and Sasuke got along was more like brothers than he had ever seen and was happy for her.

She couldn't help but smile at the comment. But soon enough, the sun had reached the peak of the day and was slowly making its way down and Naruto felt complied with saying her farewells until a later date.

But as Naruto made her way out of the graveyard, the clouds began to dull in colour and an ominous atmosphere began to crawl over the area. Naruto picked up her pace in the hopes of returning to the safety of her small room in the orphanage.

She ran through the streets of Konoha as she caught the sight of shops closing early at the sign of a storm but as she got was getting close to the Main Gate, she passed someone that she didn't expect.

The ghost of a man passed her and Naruto stopped in her tracks.

"Are you okay?" She called out to the man.

The dreary ghost turned and the sight of the man shocked her. Dark lines scrawled under where his eyes were, empty soulless sockets met hers and his appearance was hollow, vacant and devastating. He was dressed as a shinobi but definitely not one from Konoha.

"**_I want to go home. Take me home_**."

Naruto lost consciousness after that. The last thing she saw was the strange shinobi coming straight towards her.

_There's always a calm before the storm._

* * *

AN: Yay~ Finally finished. With how few chapters there are, I wanted to write a super long chapter for you guys. I'm so glad that I got this chapter finished. Tell me what you guys think. There's probably a few mistakes toward the end since it's late, I'm tired and I just chucked a punch of words onto my computer to finish this chapter as soon as possible.

Don't forget to send in your vote for future partner (since I love that stuff). You'll find the poll on my page.

Thanks so much for the support.


	5. Chapter 5: The Journey

Konohagakure no Sato had not changed in the slightest since the sudden disappearance of their Jinchūriki that contained the most dangerous beast recorded. The people continued without a second thought at the absence of the child who had constantly wondered the streets and drew their sneers and taunts and suffered under them without complaint.

And the people who greatly cared about the girl were thus not informed of her disappearance.

Sarutobi Hiruzen, he knew the struggles of being Hokage when he accepted his position…for the second time. Even though he wanted to escape the paperwork when he had first retired from office, he had never felt a stronger longing to spend time with the people that he had sworn to protect, to reconnect with his son, or to even spend more time with both his adopted granddaughter, or even with his pregnant daughter-in-law; but he had sworn to maintain order and peace, and thus found himself confined to the top floor of Hokage Tower.

Hiruzen had wanted to take out a couple of hours of his time and visit Naruto but knew the dire consequences of just one small visit. That despite his well-kept management skills, it would still push him back and would ultimately cost him later when the girl's birthday was only 3 and half months away. Hiruzen could only sigh in defeat as he wished that he had more time for himself in order to go and see the young girl…maybe next week.

…

Uchiha Sasuke wanted nothing more than to escape his clan's training in order to find his friend. She had whispered to him before she left on his birthday that her mother was taking her training after she began her daily rounds visiting the graves. If there was one thing that he admired about his friend, it was the way she was able to hold up to her promises, no matter how hard it was. And still hold a smile on her face that rivaled the sun. But that still didn't stop Sasuke from acting like a child should - complaining to his mother and brother about wanting to see Naruto but rejecting their offer to take him to go find her.

"Then, Sasuke-kun, we'll go see Naruto-chan next week. Weren't you the one that told me she was doing some sort of special training?"

He could only sigh dejectedly.

…

The spirit community was in an uproar about the disappearance of their seer. There wasn't much that could disturb the dead, but having someone from the living world that could _talk_ to them was very important. There were those who had personally gotten to know the girl and were scared for her safety, since it was generally pretty easy to find her due to the large number of spirits that gathered around her. But there were also the selfish ones that felt her presence would reconnect them to the world of the living.

It was fair to say that no matter the opinion on Naruto, her disappearance was definitely noticed by those that knew-of-her, better than those in the realm of the living ever did.

However, the words of the dead continued to go unnoticed.

…

So, Konohagakure continued on its path of peacefulness without a single acknowledging glance to the disappearance of yet another child.

* * *

**Somewhere close to the boarder of Fire and Hot Spring**

Naruto felt her body cringe from exhaustion. She could feel herself on solid ground, but she wondered why her head felt like it had been thrown around in a pool of water. Her struggled attempt at opening her eyes had been tiring. Her vision was blurred, the corner of her eyes felt dry and full of stingy salt.

Where was she? What happened? It didn't sound like she was in Konoha anymore. She knew the sounds of her village very well. The distant sounds of a bustling population, the serine sound of a constantly flowing river bends, and the light whistle of newly pollinated trees. The sound of talking and the scared whispers of the newly deceased that were learning about the spirit world were always constant.

There was also always someone to shout at her at that time of day by now...but she felt strange that she was waiting for the verbal abuse. It was a strange sensation to her; she didn't know what she was meant to do without her routine. But now, she would have sat up, yelled back and then run off. But without the yelling, she felt bad that there was a bit of peace, where she was able to continue lying on her back, drenched head to toe in water, and still feel like she was allowed to breath the cool air.

Naruto knew she wasn't in Konoha anymore. But she wasn't scared. There was always someone to help her out when it came to her abilities. She might have been away from her parents, but they weren't always there for her any way. They had their own business sometimes. She might have been by herself to everyone else, but there was always someone willing to lend her a hand.

So, grudgingly, Naruto hoped to regain control over her small arms but felt nothing but pins and needles. Once she managed to regain control over her body, she sat up and looked around her. Around her was the blissful scenery of thick, moss-covered trees that gave just the right about of shade, a violently thrashing river with just enough of bed that allowed her small body to be washed up and long grass filled with wide life.

The question on her whereabouts still floated around in her mind, only for a moment. Her location was very evident of the lack of human civilization, and possibly only a place where she would have to walk a long way if she wanted to get back home.

"Now, where exactly am I, dattebayo?"

Naruto tested her scrapped and purple-bruised legs, got up and made her way to the river. Instinctively, she cupped her hands and threw the clear, clean water onto her face. She reached down again and took a long need drink of water, her throat had been dry like nothing she felt before. There wasn't much that she could do in a situation like hers, but she refused to see the pessimistic side of it all.

"It's like a ninja. I'm on a mission and I have to camp out like Kaa-san told me she always had to do. This is so exciting –ttebayo."

Nope. Nothing was going to keep her spirit down even if she was all alone without any idea as to where she was.

"Oi, kid!"

Naruto spun around at a dizzying pace, a new wave of dizziness hit her, but she searched for the sudden sound of the person that addressed her.

She was met with the sight of a rather transparent man, who had the top of his head wrapped in bandages and his right eye was covered with a hitai-ate that held a symbol that wasn't one familiar to her.

"Who the hell are you, old man?" She asked bluntly.

The man stared at her incredibly before turning away before sighing. He couldn't believe his situation. Having to rely on a kid. It was unheard of.

"Can this brat really help?" The man muttered.

"Oi, old man, you're the one that wants me to do this mission thing, aren't you? Right? Right? Come on. Tell me! That's why you possessed me. Come on, I'm not as stupid as I look. "

"Shut up, you damn brat."

Naruto glared the grouchy man as he returned the fiery glare and the extended staring contest began. She wanted to be a really cool ninja and waiting for the Academy to have her wasn't going to stop her from doing ninja things. Rather it had only motivated her further. After her mind ran at a million miles an hour at the thought of continuing with a make-shift shinobi mission, Naruto found herself beaming up at the ghost-man.

His bewildered face had only made her laugh.

"Hey, old man, why are we here? You possessed me, so you must know." Naruto pressed.

The man lowered himself to her level, his backside resting against the back of his feet, as his single dark eye stared deeply into the little girl's blue ones. He needed her help, he knew that. He was in limbo, and a small child that had never once left the safety of her village's walls and was able to communicate with the dead, was now his only hope. He wondered if he would be able to see the light at the end of the tunnel if he could manipulate her like he had done so many other times in his living life. But also, whether or not there actually was hope with such a simpleton. He hoped there actually was a God.

"Listen," His voice was suddenly soft and pulled Naruto from any of her previous thoughts. She needed to listen in order to understand the problem so that she could fix it. That was a lesson that her mother had hounded her about constantly. "You're my only hope…I was killed by a man in Konoha because of a mission for my village's own selfish gain. But with this line of work, the work of a ninja leaves you with regrets."

"Regrets?"

"It's when you couldn't so something when you had the chance and hate yourself later. Do you understand, kid?"

"Sort of."

"Anyway, that's why I took you. I want to see my family one more time, but I because I was killed I was stuck in your village. I can't move on until I see them again."

"Oh! That's what regrets means. A lot of other people have them too. They tell me all the time. I want to help!"

The man blinked dumbly for a moment. Where was the retaliation? Wasn't she going to be angry that he took her from her home without consent? Wasn't she concerned about her own family at home? He stared amazingly at the small child like she was some sort of messiah. What sort of selfless child would give up their family and home just to accompany a stranger to another country because they needed a vessel?

"Are you stupid?" He found himself asking. "Why are you following a complete stranger?! Didn't your parents teach you anything!"

Naruto blinked up at him curiously. Her blue eyes, stared deep into his soul as if there was nothing in him that could possibly taint her purity.

"Because you asked. That's what shinobi do, don't they? They help. My parents helped and now it's my turn. Besides, you're talking to me, right? That's enough for me."

Her naïve answer made him angry. He was murdered for his village's own greed. He was killed because he wanted to continue to be appraised as the Head of Ninja. He would sell out his own allies to gain something as intangible as a title. He gave his life for the sake of something that he couldn't even use; he gave his _life _for a village to get stronger militarily during a time of peace. He…he hated what being a shinobi meant to a village.

"Listen, kid," He strained his voice as if to hold back a sob, "Being a shinobi is more serious than just helping people and saving princesses. It's a job that got me killed. It got my friends killed. It got most of my village killed. You need to learn just how bad this _job_ can get. It's a job that you can't leave the moment you're a part of it – never no matter what you say or do."

Naruto frowned for a moment. She didn't completely understand what he was getting at, but his voice told her that he was grieving. But the only thing a child her age was to offer her hand as a sign of comfort.

The ghost stared at her pudgy outstretched hand that was lightly bleeding and bruised at the wrist from the thrashing in the river. How could a person, with such limited worldly experience be so selfless? He knew children to be selfish. His own kid that he hadn't seen in two years now was selfish. The complete opposite of what he thought. His kid back home; he knew was just a little older than her when he left. They were demanding, and they liked their safety.

But the child that he had stolen (another one) was instead offering herself this time.

How he wished he had someone like her in his life when he was still alive.

* * *

Naruto didn't understand why the ghost man had taken her from Konoha, but she knew that the person before her needed her help and she were going to offer it, without question. Her mother and father would certainly be worried about her and would most likely yell at her when she got home, but she could put it off until she finished. She wondered whether or not she could send a message home to say that she was okay. The old man was going to flip when he finds out that she was missing from the orphanage but that would be a few days away.

"So, where are we going?" Naruto asked.

The man stared at her for a moment. He raised his hand and tapped his forehead protector with a single finger, indicating to the insignia on the plate.

"Kumogakure no Sato in the Land of Lightning. We're currently at the board of Fire and Hot Spring; you fell in the river and it luckily washed you up her. We need to cross the border to Hot Spring first, the country after that is Frost before we finally get to Lightning. It should take about a week and a half of straight walking, two weeks with breaks for your injures."

Naruto glanced down at her battered legs.

"They should be fine. It could have been worse. Konoha's not that safe either for someone like me." Naruto replied. She acknowledged the glares (she didn't know why) and she knew that it would be more dangerous in some areas of the city. It was usually the places furthest from Hokage Tower.

The man gave her a skeptical look. He thought about the event that happened when he had first possessed the girl. After being maliciously killed by Hiashi Hyuuga for kidnapping his daughter, he had being wondering around Konoha for two years. His spirit wasn't able to leave the grounds without something or someone to latch onto. When the girl had acknowledged his presence his desire to return to Kumo had overwhelmed him and he leapt at her, seizing immediate control over her. But the cost was of possession was a dear one. He knew it straight away. The dead could not live again in a body of someone else's. The girl was slowly dying as he continued to occupy her body.

As he ran as fast as he could in the four-year-old's body, he managed to sneak passed the guards as they just clocked out and were in the middle of switching. He ran, he didn't dare stop; he was finally out of that Konoha hell hole and making his way back to Kumo.

But, after about 7 minutes, his soul was forcefully ripped out of the girl's body. He turned and watched as her feeble body fell into a large river and was being carried away. She was lucky that her face was right-side up, but he didn't know how long she would stay like that. He followed her. Guilt riddled inside of him. He just killed a girl to get back to his home that he couldn't even interact with. The girl's heart stopped the moment a spirit took over her body, he had held on for far too long.

As he followed her through the river, he winced as she hit rocks and fallen branches, she finally got caught at the riverbank. He stayed with her: he felt he needed to; another life lost at the cost of his own selfishness.

Something had caught his attention though after a couple of seconds of silence, while he watched. A glow of orange-red chakra covered the girl's body. She was alive! Or rather something was keeping her alive; and it wasn't hard to figure out what.

A Jinchūriki was common to find in a Hidden Village since the First Hokage sold them to each village in the hope of maintaining peace between the large countries. Hell, Kumo had two and both of them were annoying in their own way. But the Hidden Village of Cloud did a bit better looking after them since the new Raikage took office, especially compared to other villages. Whatever monster was lurking inside of her was definitely not going to let her die on the account that some ghost's stupidity.

But when he saw that she was breathing again, he relaxed. He continued to stay by her side. It was after two days and she hadn't woken up, he noticed that her breathing was getting irregular again. She was dehydrating and hungry. He needed to keep this girl alive.

He searched the forest for food before quickly returning and possessing her body again. He made her drink the fresh river water before rushing off to make her eat the food that he found. He returned her to the river bed and waited again. Another day had passed before she woke up. She had offered her help and was ready to enter the world with nothing but the small wisdom of a previous shinobi.

That girl was simply amazing.

* * *

"What's your name, brat?"

Naruto looked up at the ghost that floated alongside her as she walked along a main road into Hot Spring. It was a large open road that followed the rice fields on one side and the forestation on the other. The ghost had told her it was a pretty popular road for merchants and travelers to walk along to get to their desired destination. He had also told her that her villager's shinobi wouldn't think of checking the main roads since they would believe an opposing village had stolen her and thus be taking the quickest shinobi routes.

"Uzumaki Naruto. What's your's?"

"Kaido."

"Hmm."

* * *

Naruto didn't know exactly what to talk about with her companion. She could tell that he was a man of both few words, and a lot (only when it came to himself). But she was naturally curious, she asked him questions and he felt inclined to answer it to the best of his ability.

"Did you want to become a ninja to help people too?" Naruto asked. It was a simple question.

"Everyone's got different reasons to becoming a shinobi, kid. And mine isn't as noble as your's. I did it for the money. I was a street-rat with nothing but the clothes on my back. I worked hard to get as much money to protect myself from the life's burdens."

"Money?"

"Yeah…Shit! You don't have anything on you, do you kid?"

Naruto blinked and then looked down at her soggy clothes; even though it had been three days, she was still lying on the bank with the water rushing up on her. She had been walking in the sun for about two hours now and they were very slowly drying. She patted the outside of her pockets and felt nothing.

She looked up at the man and shrugged her shoulders in response.

"We're going to need money if you're going to continue undercover."

"Oooh, an undercover mission. This is so cool."

"Sure, shorty. I'll look for food in the woods when you get hungry, but if we run into a passing merchant you're going to have to work for them, do you understand?"

"You're going to find food, or I work. Got it!"

"You're actually pretty smart when you need to be."

"Hey! What's that s'pose to mean?!"

"Figure it out yourself! I'm not here to explain everything."

* * *

On their way on the long dusty road to civilization, Kaido had floated up, spotted just how far they were and estimated another three hours at most at walking pace. When he told Naruto about the time that was when the true childish colours of the girl had come out. If it had no purpose to her then she would complain. That was what Kaido had found.

"Why not view it as a training exercise?"

"Huh?"

"Three hours of walking is going to do very well on your muscles. It'll make you faster later and help you get away from enemies."

Naruto thought about that prospect a little longer than what Kaido was comfortable with. A new bit of information had been given to him this time. Naruto was the type of girl that did better from doing rather than thinking. If the concept was easy, than she could understand it – but if it wasn't then she was easily fall behind.

What a difficult child.

"Don't worry about it, kid. You'll see the results once we get to the town and you get your energy back."

"Whatever you say, ossan."

As they continued to trek through Fire and easily over to Hot Spring, they had seen the shocking results of many deceased spirits along the side of the road. Kaido had insisted that they ignore them (mainly to favour his own hope of seeing salvation), but Naruto wasn't going to walk ideally by. When she saw the spirit of a civilian that had been unfortunate to be caught in the cross fire of the Third Shinobi War, he had told her of how he had wished he had been more careful and wasn't so stubborn and insistent on working in the middle of a war.

Naruto reassured him that his plea had been heard and that he was going to be safe in the next life. The farmer told her that he was scared. She told him that she herself didn't know what the next life held, but it was something that he shouldn't be afraid of and that holding onto the familiar would only bring bitterness and sadness later.

Kaido was definitely shocked when he heard the young girl's wisdom of the dead.

But when the farmer took her words to heart, he had disappeared into a single speck of light before vanishing completely.

"Oi, brat. What'd you- How'd you- what?"

"What's wrong, ossan?"

"You know a lot about spirit?" He said dumbly.

"Not a lot." Naruto said. She scratched the back of her head rather sheepishly. "Kaa-chan and Tou-san are ghosts too, so they studied my interaction with other ghosts and taught me lots of things on how to treat the dead."

"And you're not scared of what we can do?"

"What can you do?"

Kaido felt slightly annoyed at how forgetful the girl could be.

"I don't know, maybe, possess you and steal you away from your country." He stated sarcastically.

"Yeah, but ghosts are nice. They can't really hurt people… well I don't think they can. But Tou-san was telling me about something called a polti-… polter-… polter-something and said that ghosts that spend too long in one place become that and they're troubled, whatever that means."

* * *

They had managed to find a small town in Hot Spring and Naruto (with her dirty, yet cute face) to scrounge enough money to get them food and a very poor kimono for the rest of the trip. Naruto didn't care, she was getting close that didn't smell like stale river and food in her stomach.

...

Frost Country was something that Kaido hadn't anticipated. He had been used to not feeling the weather, be it alive or dead, but when he watched the girl shiver despite the summer weather, he recognised the problem immediately.

After spending two days in a river and another two days in soggy, stinky clothes – and now in Frost's constant winter weather, she was bound to get hypothermia.

"There's a village coming up, you should be able to find more reasonable clothes. Frost and Lightning can get pretty cold even in summer."

Naruto just nodded her head, but after some time to think about her situation she turned to her ghost companion.

"Kaido-san, I don't have any more money on me."

The man gave the girl a hardened stare. With no village in sight to ask for handouts, and the kid being small to commit decent crime, she was left with pretty much nothing. The girl was just too innocent; a warring shinobi shouldn't have to put up with this.

The man scratched his brown scruffy goatee as they watched the village come closer into view. There were children running around and some of the houses were open as stores to accommodate to tourists and Kumo shinobi that were passing through. He remembered that Frost had its own Hidden Village somewhere around the northern region but their main source of income mainly came from Lightning. Kaido wondered if it was possible to find a familiar Nin in the area and have them take the spiritualist with them back to Kumo. It was possible but the story would have to be good.

Kaido really didn't want to start a war between Konoha and Kumo like he almost did previously, simply because he managed to kidnap their Jinchūriki from under their noses.

There was the problem; getting into Kumo.

Naruto had scampered off on her own to explore the village with toddler curiosity, the people gave her a kind smile as she passed, as if they could see the purity in her eyes that was often lost in children since the Third Shinobi War. With their parents telling them war stories and how grateful they should be for growing up in a time of peace, many children didn't have the same innocent cheerful light in their eyes.

Naruto ran from store to store looking at the contents but only from the outside; it was a while since she had left the village and with greater distance between living and dead, she began to recognise the difference between the two. She could feel the Kumo Nin behind her, following her every move, there were a lot of other spirits around toward the edges of the towns. It was because of that that she could tell when a living person was approaching and a spirit…she wondered how far she could feel a spirit before she could feel it anymore.

Kaido had told her of the Third Shinobi War and that those spirits were most likely lost and couldn't cross over since they also abandoned their connection to the living world and have forgotten their purpose. Lost spirit were either helpful or harmful and Kaido advised that it was best to leave them alone since it was difficult to tell the difference until it was too late.

That was until Naruto retorted that she thought he was a malicious spirit until he told her his story and what he wanted from her.

Kaido could only smirk at her logic. She was too kind hearted. He wondered whether she could possibly become a shinobi.

* * *

The border of Lightning was difficult the cross–that was if Naruto didn't have a Kumo Nin that knew his way around his own country. He took her about a day's walk to a certain river, it was rather thin that could only sustain small fish and crossed under and through a mountain that would lead to outer region of Kumo for another half a day.

The forest that surrounded the mountain was dense. The trunks of the trees were clustered together, the dirt didn't settle well with the inter-twining roots and was incredibly difficult for an adult who didn't have formal shinobi training to reach the river.

A child, however, would have never been allowed anywhere near such an extensive forest. Kaido had a lot of trouble as he fazed through the trees and watched pitifully as Naruto tripped and tumbled over the loose roots and got battered and bruised as she eagerly made her way toward the mystery river.

"Are we there yet?"

"It's just after the large chip in the elder tree." Kaido pointed.

"Isn't it bad to show me this?"

"The river?"

"Un."

"You're still a brat. You won't remember this by the time you're a real ninja."

"Hey!"

Naruto pushed forwards. Her hands were covered in dirt, her hair was hardly free of grime and twigs, with her old clothes had long been abandoned, replaced and replaced again with an overly large white shirt that reached her knees and a thin brown coat that a old woman was able to part with, it was all she had. When she reached the large oak tree, her small hand ran over the permanent gash in the bark that only obvious to those who stood immediately next to it.

The tree was in a clearing, it's roots had slighting uprooted and branched off into the forest. It's leaves bloomed and flourished with vibrant green and brown colouring, as it stained the forest floor with shifting shadows. The sunlight peeked through the leaves and the beams of light came down in streams like spotlights.

Naruto found herself smiling up at the sight, but not before she was forcefully pushed into the dirt from behind.

"Aaaarh!"

"Move it. We're losing daylight."

Naruto groaned as she pulled herself out of the dirt and shot a glare at the ghost.

"I thought you would've liked the dark. You're a ghost."

The Head Kumo Nin shot a distasteful look at the girl.

"We do get more powerful but it doesn't help since you can't do shit since you're so tiny."

"I'm not tiny, dattebayo! Mum says I'm pocket-sized."

"…" The ninja stared at the angry 4-year-old. "You don't know what pocket-sized means, do you?"

"Nope."

Kaido just sighed and floated off ahead, directing Naruto to the hidden base of the mountain. The river they were meant to follow had disappeared into a different direction to the mountain. Kaido told her that it was meant to lead a false trail in case foreign Nin caught word. Kumo Nin would then break off into the forest and gather at the base of the elder tree before making their way to the hidden path in the mountain.

As Naruto travelled for another half a day without stopping, she soon arrived at one of the gates of Kumogakure no Sato. She felt tired all of sudden.

* * *

AN: Hey guys, I know its been ages since I last updated. I had actually had this chapter written for a while but didn't know where to go with it, and it wasn't until I edited it for the fourth? Fifith time? that I finally managed to come up with a way to end the chapter and have something brand new to work on. Once again, my updating schedule is always going to be erratic and there's no guarantee when the next one will be out.

Also, **VERY IMPORTANT: it would mean a lot for reviewers to look at the rules on my bio. **

**For now I'll put them here, so please make sure that you read them. **

**In Regards to Reviews - VERY IMPORTANT**

"I'm glad that you wonderful readers are sending in your thoughts on my stories but one or two words aren't reviews.

But, telling me to "update soon" or to just "hurry up" in the next chapter in general is annoying and only encourages me to NOT write the chapter. I know that I don't update my stories fast enough as it is, but every time I get a review like that it only pushes back even further.

Opinions, criticisms, pointing out spelling and grammatical mistakes are more then welcome. If you have a fan theory, share it I'd love to hear it. Anything as long as it isn't "update soon"

I'm sure there are other things that are bound to upset me about some reviewers but I can get over them in a short period of time, but update soon will never stop annoying every author.

Thanks."

I look forward to seeing you next time. Ciao.


	6. Chapter 6: Welcome to Kumogakure

AN: It's been a while, but I managed to pump this chapter out of my head after a lot of planning. I'm hoping to finish this Kumogakure Arc by the next chapter, so... I don't know.

* * *

"Sir…"

"What is it?"

"There appears to be an unconscious girl at the western gate. What do you want us to do?"

"Hold your positions, I'll have someone take her to a civilian medical bay close to the boarder. Send a request to the Raikage for a very minor stealth mission; a couple of Genin should be able to handle it. The war might have ended, but plants are still viable against enemies."

"Understood, sir, I'll contact the medical aid closest to the western gate."

"Hnn."

* * *

"Oi, kid! Kid!" The echoing voice was rather concerning and too distant for Naruto to completely comprehend. "Kid…this isn't a good place to be passed out from a cold. Didn't your parents ever get you vaccinated?!"

Naruto's fingers curled from the pain that was throbbing in her head. A whine escaped her cracked lips and a pop came from her stiff shoulders as she turned and immediately felt the soft surface underneath her. This had immediately alarmed her and she bolted up from the bed scanning the area for threats.

She might have been young, but the threat of sleeping anywhere that was in the sights of strangers had her instinctually flinching; she didn't think she would ever be able to outgrow the hatred that was thrown her way.

"H-Hello?"

"Kid," the gruff voice that had been travelling with her for the past week and a half became very soft when he noticed how scared she was in an unfamiliar environment, "Naruto, it's going to be okay. I'm here to help you out. You can count on me to get us through this, okay?"

It was almost pitiful to see such a happy soul who enjoyed being loud and excited in the presence of spirits become reduced to a whimper when it came to large populations of living people. It just reminded him that he had asked a little girl, _a little girl,_ to trek through three small countries just to take him home and she did it all with a smile on her face.

The home that he was able to see when he passed through the wall of clinic. He couldn't go off by himself just yet, but it missed it. The howling wind, the freedom of the outdoors that was almost exclusively shinobi, the bustle of civilians that used the connecting bridges to reach anywhere in the village. Uzumaki Naruto had brought him home.

She told him how happy she was to be of use to people, that she was glad she was doing something right. She was so young, yet she was only slight taller than a toddler, her hair barely touched her shoulders, and her skins was practically clear of scars. The world really was asking too much of her.

Naruto took a deep breath and plastered on the biggest grin she could muster to cheer up the spirit that had taken her from her village, her parents and friends for the hope of a happy ending, "I'm going to be okay!".

Kaido placed his hand over Naruto's head and ran his fingers through her short, blonde hair.

"If you say so, I'm still counting on you to bring me home."

"Roger that!"

* * *

The doctor came in a couple of minutes later when he heard some commotion in the room that was currently being guarded by shinobi. He had been informed of the breach in security that she was making simply by not having the appropriate documents allowing her into the country.

The doctor was old and a civilian, he was just happy to have lived through the Third Shinobi War, but wasn't exactly happy with the political scene but didn't want to do anything about it. The type that enjoyed complaining. A couple of papers from a little girl were of no concern to him, but he supposed that Kumo always had to be careful about every little detail otherwise they would not be able to stand tall against the other countries.

"Ya jus' stay on 'dat side of da door, ya he'r me, I can't have ya scarin' me patient away," the doctor grumbled.

The shinobi didn't say a thing; he just gave a sideward glance before returning to his original position.

"Always causin' a hassle," he muttered under his breath as he entered the room. He looked up and found the little girl that was sent to his clinic sitting upright, but with her back pushed up against the wall and the blanket pulled up to cover her. Just the sound of the door opening meant third party danger.

The old man tried his best to put on a smile for her, but it only made her cringe a little harder.

"Ya collapsed from a high fever at da city gates. D'you know where ya are, child?"

"Kumokagure…right?" She had a fairly strong voice when it came to answering questions. As long as he didn't raise his voice or say anything she'll eventually lower her guard.

"Bingo. Ya were brought inna my clinic to treat ya flu; already gave ya da appropriate needles to protect ya from da bugs in the future. You've been sleepin' for da whole day; you're fever ought to be gone be now, and the flu ought to 've flushed out ya system too. It's almost a miracle really."

"Huh?"

"It's not'tin."

The doctor went over to his desk and checked over his records and the notes that his assistant had made while she was sleeping. He took a seat before returning his attention back to his patient.

"Ya health is doin' fine at da moment, and I think a little food ought to perk yer right up. Have 'ta warn ya d'hough there's a shinobi outside that wants to ask you a couple of questions. Not'tin' too scary, but d'hey said I could stay if it makes ya feel more com'table."

Naruto liked this old man, he reminded her of a grumpier version of the Hokage, which amused her greatly and she couldn't stop smiling at him. She took a quick glance at Kaido for what he thought of having the old man stay. She tried her hardest not to look too desperately at him to get his approval because she knew she had to keep a very tight lid on her abilities.

"Yes please…"

"Suzuki Ichiro."

"Suzuki-sensei then? My name's Naruto. Nice to meetcha."

"Gwahaha, do whatcha want, kid, I ain't gonna stop ya."

Naruto jumped off the bed and ran over to Suzuki and smiled up at him. Sazuki stared down at the little girl he had assumed was going to be a very difficult case when it came to social interaction, especially when he immediately picked up on the fact that she had some type of trauma that would have her run away if were to be trapped in a room.

It only made him wonder what happened in her life that made her so terrified at such a young age.

"Naruto-kun, are yer parents ever mean to you? Do d'hey ever hit you?"

"K-" Naruto was cut off by Kaido yelling over her.

"Don't tell him anything! Your parents are dead remember!"

"Ummm…"

"Just say that they died when you were born and you've been left alone at the monastery."

"Kaa-chan and Tou-chan died. I by myself at a mon-monast-?"

"Monastery?"

"Yeah. The other kids are really mean, but the monks are really nice, especially Jiji."

Kaido smirked with pride, she was going to grow up a natural liar and manipulator.

"Sorry for askin' da hard questions, Naruto-kun."

Naruto stared at him questioningly but brushed it off. "Ne, Sazuki-sensei, why are you calling me Naruto-kun? Jiji calls me Naruto-chan."

"Do ya want me ta' change it?"

"…No, is okay. Just wondering."

Sazuki ruffled the girl pretty blonde hair and grinned widely at her.

"I just think '-kun' suits ya better." He took his hand back before pointing at the door, "Can I bring the pesky ninja in now?"

Naruto giggled at the idea of the annoying ninja that had come specifically to bother the old man. Even though she knew that the Sazuki wasn't trying to be funny, she liked his smile, and he smiled when she smiled, so she was going to keep doing in.

Kaido had taken a quick look at who the shinobi that was going to be interviewing his host and noticed that it was only a Chuunin with a childish face. They were clearly taking all the steps to make sure they got all the information out of the kid. But as long as she didn't say she was from Konoha or had psychic abilities they were probably going to be in the all clear.

Although…he wouldn't put it passed them if they put in a C-rank mission for Genin to keep an eye on her before they had her leave.

* * *

The interview wasn't anything special. They asked her full name, age, village (which they just told them the one on the boarder of Fire to account for her accent), her reason for coming, the amount of money carrying on her person, and why she didn't have papers. Naruto answered them all honestly but would quickly learned to wait a couple of moments to give Kaido time to answer for her if she didn't know what to say.

When there was nothing else to ask the shinobi thanked Naruto for her cooperation and informed her that she needed to hold onto the paper that he gave her because it was going to act as her temporary visa; but it would run out after two weeks and she needed to get a stamp of approval from the front gate when she left otherwise she would be fined and possibly imprisoned.

Naruto told him that she didn't completely understand what he was telling her, but she told him that she understood that holding onto the paper and getting it stamped before she left was very important.

There wasn't much else he could do but wish her the best.

* * *

Naruto was walked out of the clinic by the doctor, after she was give some food and forced into taking a shower, and were about to say their farewells.

"Don'tcha worry 'bout the fee. I'm glad I got ta take care o' such a cute kid."

"But, Sazuki-sensei, Jiji _always_ said it's important to repay a debt." It was actually her mother that said that, she had also told her the day her father teased her endlessly in exchange for her guilt-free conscious. That being said, Kushina wasn't guilt free by the end of the day when they fought 7 times - in Minato's favor.

"Just ask for the clinic's address and the bill. I'm sure you can send the money in the mail." Kaido peeked. Which was what Naruto asked, and the old man only laughed before agreeing. She might have been young and with no money to her name, but responsibility was a big part of growing up; plus there was no real loss when he already forfeited the bill.

"Thank you. Bye bye!"

* * *

"Genin, I've got a simple C-rank mission for you."

"Really?! Our first C-rank!"

"I won't be there to protect you, but I will be observing. You are ordered to observe the movements of an illegal entry for the next two weeks, they have been granted temporary permission into Kumo until that visa expires. All the details are in the mission statement, you are to report at the end of each day. Dismiss."

Their teacher clearly wasn't one for wasting air and disappeared a second later and left the Genin to talk among themselves.

"Did Sensei just leave us alone to find an illegal without any sort of direction to begin with?"

"Yes, yes she did. Better get reading that mission statement otherwise we won't have any clues to find this person."

* * *

"I can't believe the Raikage left us with watching a bloody 4-year-old for two weeks!"

"Shut up! She's going to hear us, you fool. It's a stealth mission; if we fail this mission then we'll be stuck with D, or God forbid, E-ranks for the next month."

Naruto stopped in her tracks and turned around to see where the sudden banter was coming from. The place was a fairly crowded area that Kaido had told her was one of the main Shopping Districts inside one of the huge pillars littered all around the city. They had only been passing through since the Residence District where his wife lived was the next tower over, but he wanted to see how things have changed as well.

"Ossan, can't we go a little faster. I want to see the woman that had the guts to marry you already."

"Glad to see that fever didn't screw up your head, otherwise you might actually be durable to be around."

"Shishishi. I just don't see why we're going around the market place. I don't have any money, I gave what little I had left to Suzuki-sensei."

Kaido blankly stared at the girl that continued to whine. He could see where she was coming from, Naruto might've been energetic now, but once she got hungry it was very hard to get her moving again, but her honor towards a debt was greater than her stomach. He often forgot that she needed to eat on their trip up to Kumo since it's been 2 years since he last ate anything.

"Okay, okay, let's get the show on the road."

"Yahoo!"

…

…

"You have got to be kidding me," Kaido groaned.

"You said she moved house, right? Where is she now?"

"How would I know?!" He began yelling at himself for his own stupidity, "Pathetic. Now we've got no leads and… kid?"

It was very typical of Naruto to wonder off when she got bored of something or had her own solution to the problem. Kaido only had to spin around and find the little brat tugging on some housewife's skirt to get her attention and ask her if she's heard of the late Kaido's wife, Hargun.

The name Kaido was very famous, now infamous, for the failed capture mission of the Hyuuga heiress that almost set Fire and Lightning back onto a warpath. Especially with tensions still in the air after the Third Shinobi War there was a huge backlash from the civilians when they received the news on one of the Head Ninja's death by the hands of a Konoha shinobi.

It also did not bode well for the deceased's family either.

"Why do you ask, dear?"

"I'm here to visit Kaido-san's grave and pay my respects to his family. He saved me when I was younger; my parents were killed by bandits and he was the one that found me and took me to priests."

A cleverly weaved tale on Naruto's part, they had been practicing for days on end to have that tearjerker really connect with civilians to get the information they needed out of them.

It was safe to say that Naruto wouldn't have survived in the best of shape if she hadn't followed Kaido's instructions. The customs were very different and she would have stuck out like a sore thumb if she just declared her intentions at the top of her lungs like how he often observed when she got into heated fights with people.

"Oh, you poor thing, did you come all the way to Kumo by yourself?"

"Yes, ma'am. The monks said that they were happy that I was moving towards enlightenment by offering prayers to the deceased but they also said I was too young to be off on my own."

"And they are very right, dear." She rest her hand against her chin in contemplation, "But there really isn't any helping it if you're already in Kumo, is there? Although I wouldn't advise visiting the Head Ninja's grave during the day, you can find Hargun on the other side of the city near the Shipping and Storage District. Honestly feel bad for the poor thing, with all the drama since Head Ninja's death, her and the kids have been under a lot of fire just for being married to him.  
"I wish I could've helped her but she said it was for the best anyway that they moved. She said she didn't like too many reminders of her late husband."

Naruto bowed deeply at a 90-degree angle, as Yamanaka-baa-chan had drilled into her when it came to showing gratitude from situations that were sudden and unexpected.

She could almost hear her voice, "_Bowing at the appropriate 90-degree is very important when it comes to greeting and being dismissed by a superior that is far higher than you; but also when you have imposed upon someone and they have given something of importance to you. Uzumaki! Are you listening to me? Brats these days…"_

Yeah, she thought, Baa-chan would definitely fly off the rails if she found out that she didn't put her teachings to good use.

"Which why to the Storage District?"

"If you keep heading north of here you'll find it with no problem. Good luck to you."

"Thank you."

Naruto began walking in the direction the woman had told her and she turned around once again just to make sure that Kaido was keeping up. It was on their walk that her spirit friend had told her that they were being followed and for a while since they left the clinic.

Naruto just asked if they were going to hurt them or kick her out of Kumo before she was finished. He only replied with a shake of his head; he didn't know.

"Then how about you tail them and I'll just keep going to the Storage District."

"You sure you know the way?"

"Positive. You're the one that told me that information is the best tool in an a-ar-ars-what?"

"Arsenal."

"Yeah that."

"I'm against it, but you learn quicker on your feet, so I'll let it go. See you 'round."

* * *

Naruto nodded her head and prepared herself for a boring day. At least it wasn't going to be a long boring day like it was sometimes on the trip up. They had left the clinic by noon and now it was already mid-afternoon. By the time she even got close to the next tower, the signage told her she still had another three towers to go. What a day.

But just as she was about to get on the large, yet stable windy bridge she was stopped by the guard that was stationed there. It was something that she noticed when they crossed over to the Shopping District, but didn't question until now.

"Miss, the sun is going to be setting soon and the bridges will be closed at 6. The winds become too dangerous to cross, so you better start heading home."

"Okay, thank you, mister."

At least the people were friendlier in Kumo than they were at home. The people back home were always so mean to her and they always took away any friends that she made and turned them against her.

At least she had Sasuke and Kaa-chan and Tou-chan and the other ghosts.

Naruto pushed on without any concern for the high gale force winds that attempted to topple the bridge, it was just a little wobble nothing serious, she honestly thought they were a lot of fun and apparently so did a lot of other young kids she saw quickly passing her, ready to go home.

She noted that there were a lot of Shopping Districts, but what caught her eye was the fact that the Shopping Districts were always placed next to the Residence District, it definitely made it a lot easier for everyone when they needed to get something.

Naruto stopped on the bridge and did the daring thing of grabbing the thick cables and look down at the chasm below. She noticed a lot of moving specs at the bottom, before the wind cleared away a couple of misty clouds and immediately picked up on the traders' carts that she often tagged along on.

It was easy to maintain Kumo's security when it meant that spies, plants and assassins trying to get into Kumo via traders' routes couldn't get close to the towers. Running up the side of the towers was a feat, but also there were glass panels everywhere and would be a very conspicuous break in. Kumonin were very strong when it came to their chakra control against the wind and rain and were forced to take the sky routes, making it easier for security to keep and eye out for intruders.

Smaller traders had a harder time selling their wares, since they needed to gain permission from regulators in the Shipping and Storage District at the back of the country; while traders like farmers, material and mineral traders selling raw items made their transaction and were on their way.

It wasn't a surprise that Kumogakure was the biggest economic giant out of the Five Elemental Nations.

* * *

Kaido watched the three amateur Genin perform the worst stealth mission he had seen in his undead life. They stuck their heads out from around corners, talked loudly amongst each other and bumped into everything trying to keep up with a child.

It was embarrassing that he was even there, but Naruto was only a couple of meters away, just far enough that he wasn't going to rubber band back to her since she was his only anchor to get out of Konoha's own looping purgatory.

It wasn't until the sun was about to set and the bridges were closing that he was finally getting somewhere with the Genin. He followed them up a couple floors to a isolated corridor. He knew what they were waiting for.

The end of day report. This was going to be very valuable information for a Naruto, especially if she wanted to continue staying in Kumo under the guise of an orphan that was taken in by the monks of Fire that wanted to repay a debt.

Kaido floated around the Genin as they went over the information that he and Naruto already covered, but it wasn't until they brought the point of her continual whispering that waved a red flag.

"It's soughta creepy, whether she's around someone or not she's always talking. When there's no one around she's whispering, but when she talking to someone directly she's very loud with her words."

Their sensei only chalked it up to being religious prayers of safety since there was no evidence that suggested otherwise and was too young to be using summons as communicators. She hadn't done anything significant to even warrant a proper investigation just yet anyway.

"If you think the whispering is suspicious trust your instincts and get in closer, but make sure that your cover is completely inconspicuous…"

After that it was just instructions on how to improve their formation and stealth before they were dismissed to get a good night's rest. After all with the bridges closing it was going to be difficult for them to take the sky route, even though it was a Academy compulsory requirement to pass.

Kaido dismissed himself as well and found his little blonde savior curled up, fast asleep next to a public trashcan. It was tough on the kid, but she said she was fine with it. She would go days without returning to the orphanage in Konoha because they were horrible to her or that she wanted to hunt her own food and stay with the ghosts, and trashcans were her last resorts for free food. It was disgusting and disgraceful that someone like her had to go to such lengths to even survive.

It just made her more resourceful when it came to the food that she was given and was going to help her in the future…that was if she made it to the future with the diet that she had the moment.

"Don't worry, kid, my wife has some of the best cooking you'll ever taste. I promise you."

* * *

The next morning, was almost the same as the last one. Simple traveling, avoiding strangers and getting closer and closer to their destination.

Their adventure was quickly coming to an end; and Kaido was back at Naruto's side silently preparing a grateful farewell speech to give her.

That was until they passed through the lower level of the Raikage Tower where they were met with a bit of a confrontation.

"What's the hip and the happenin', this is all too maddening~"

"That's not a good sign…" Kaido muttered. He had nothing against his own country's Jinchuuriki, a lot of the shinobi that fought alongside the Fourth and his brother B knew fully well the extent of their prowess and dedication to the village.

The only problem for them were the few shinobi that had been directly effected by the Hachibi's rampage and the civilians loved living in terror when they knew they were in protective and abusive favor. Give a weak person the opportunity to beat out someone clearly stronger than you and they become the biggest monsters.

"Who's that?" Naruto asked.

"The biggest idiot you could run into in Kumogakure, Killer B."

* * *

AN: Yeah, so this chapter probably wasn't the most exciting. I wanted to focus on speech patterns on minor characters so they weren't stagnant, as well as focus on the geographic and economic benefits that Kumo has compared to Konoha. I hope you enjoyed it.

I upload a cute little drawing of baby Naruto on my DeviantArt under the same name, and how I image she looks like at his moment.

Hope you enjoyed it and I see you next time. Ciao


End file.
